


It's Going to be Alright

by Just_watch_me



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Angst, But he also has these wierd things called feelings, Child Abuse, I'm not used to putting warnings on my works so if I missed something PLEASE tell me, In which Gaster is an Asster, Is it clear I have no idea what I'm doing yet?, Losts of Ocs, Medical Experimentation, PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, Swearing, There are some ups and downs, Warnings May Change, fluff?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-07-24 15:59:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7514428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_watch_me/pseuds/Just_watch_me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.</p><p>Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with their only hope being each other. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster crossed the line with a certain experiment. Now the brothers are on the run, traveling through the underground in hopes of escaping the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just become possible when a certain flame ends up taking them under his wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though and it's always hard to outrun your past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gladly Suffering

Sans blinked against the bright, florescent lights shining down on him. He was strapped down to a metal table, the cold seeping into his scared bones. A voice to the side was speaking. Not to him, but rather to himself. He was recording the experiment about to take place.

“Experiment GBDT subject S-1” Said the voice as he jolted down some notes. “Subject S-1 will receive final procedure to the latest experiment.” 

Sans felt cold dread crawling down his spine. For the past couple of months he had gone through countless painful procedures for this latest new experiment. He didn’t even know what they were supposed to do. Gaster never told him and whenever he asked, he would be told to shut up, often accompanied with a smack to the face. Eventually, he stopped asking. What was the point? It was obvious this man was a lost cause. He never showed him any kindness.

He was so sick of suffering through these experiments. All they ever caused to him was pain. There would be no more pain for him if he just let himself fall down. It would be too easy to not get up. But he could never do something so selfish. There was still something to live for and protect. 

His brother, Papyrus was hardly three years old. He was so young and innocent. Paps was the only bright spot in Sans’ bleak life. If Sans didn’t do the experiment, then Gaster would move on to him and he would never forgive himself for letting Papyrus take the burden alone. It was something he refused to let happen. So Sans suffered. He gladly dealt with the pain, as long as it meant Papyrus was safe. But there were some things he couldn’t protect him from. If Gaster wanted him then he was powerless to do anything about it. Still, if Sans didn’t cooperate then Papyrus would be the one punished. 

Sans watched as Gaster came into view with a syringe in his hands. He hides the fear rising within him. Not showing fear was the only way he could defy Gaster in any way. It was a pointless victory, but it felt good knowing that the scientist didn’t entirely control him.

He felt the needle go into his arm, and gritted his teeth. Almost instantly Sans felt a searing pain in his arm. It felt like fire was making its way through his arm and to the soul in his chest. As much as it hurt, Sans was used to this kind of pain. He had felt it every day for as long as he could remember. But something was different this time. The pain wasn’t stopping at his chest. Instead it was spreading to every part of his skeletal body, twisting it in agony. He tried to bite back his cries of pain, but a moan escaped him. God it hurt. It felt as though his bones were rearranging themselves. As if his thought triggered it, a loud crackling noise filled his ears. He felt his restraints digging into his bones and his back arched as a new wave of pain took hold of him. This time he didn’t bother hiding his screams as the world around him flared blue, then went black.

He must have passed out for a moment because when Sans opened his eyes the pain was gone, though he was still groggy and strapped to the table. He heard Gaster’s voice somewhere nearby excitedly recording notes.

“Excellent!” he was saying “The experiment performed on subject S-1 was a success. The subject’s body has changed in form. S-1 should also possess stronger powers which will be tested at a later date.” The scientist could hardly contain his glee that the experiment had worked and didn’t seem to notice that Sans was waking up, or that he had passed out at all. 

Sans jerked to attention at that “What?” he tried to say but all that came out was a strangled growl. He glanced down at himself and yelped in shock. His bones had completely reformed themselves into a new body. It was hard to see from his angle, but Sans could make out sharp, clawed hands and a cat-like tail twitching near his feet. The straps were now too tight and were crushing his bones. Gaster continued to talk, but Sans was no longer paying attention. He just stared down at his new body. He felt numb, like he was going into shock. Not good he thought I gotta calm down. He closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath. The straps prevented him from getting any more than a shallow breath, but it was enough to help him focus. He then realized that Gaster had just spoken.

“Did you not hear me?” he asked with poorly suppressed annoyance. “How do you feel? Are there any symptoms to the procedure?”

Gaster was not asking out of concern. He merely wanted to record as much data as possible. Sans, unable to respond in his new form growled at him and lurched against the straps keeping him down. Gaster narrowed his eyes and smacked him with the side of his hand. “Enough” he said calmly. “I will not tolerate your attitude.”

Sans just sighed inwardly, how else did he expect him to communicate? For the head royal scientist, he wasn’t always smart. Then again he could have just wanted an excuse to hit him. Sans actually felt tired and a bit light headed as he was still struggling to breath. Even if he could speak, it wasn’t like he would tell him any of this. Sans despised being seen as a weak, sniveling lab rat, even if that was all he was. The scientist turned his back on Sans and continued to mutter while writing down notes. Sans was really struggling to breath now. It felt as though the straps were getting tighter and tighter with every passing moment. He felt himself beginning to black out. Trying not to panic, Sans made a gasping sound to get Gaster’s attention. The royal scientist turned around just in time to see the lights in Sans’ eyes dim as he passed out again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.


	2. The Problem With Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

Sans opened his eyes and discovered he was lying down on the cot he and Papyrus shared in their cell. He had been changed into some scrubs while he was unconsious, though he was still in his new form. It was disorienting to wake up to. His limbs felt heavy and twisted, but also natural and smooth. Ha, natural. There was nothing natural about this. The thought made his soul pulse with fearful confusion, but he dismissed it easily enough when he noticed his brother was not with him. Paps wasn’t there and Sans hoped he was just getting his vitals read. The thought of his brother strapped to a table was enough to make his bones cold and skeletons were supposedly immune to temperature change.

Slowly sitting up, Sans looked around their holding cell. The room, if it could be called that, was a small, confined space barely big enough for the cot he sat on. The room was even more cramped than usual because of Sans’s larger form, but he hardly noticed the confinement of the space. After sleeping here all his life, it just became another detail in the never changing cycle. He glared at the one way window that took up most of a wall and actually _growled_. He blinked in surprised at the sound he made; apparently he couldn’t speak in this form. It served as a reminder of just how _wrong_ his body was. 

Approaching the window, on trembling and slightly unbalanced legs, he studied his new appearance. He was now on all fours and had big, clawed paws. Sans, indeed, had a tail which was almost as long as the rest of his body. Short but sharp ridges ran down his spine to the tail tip. His skull was long and narrow with sharp spikes coming out in the back and he also had a large muzzle full of sharp looking teeth. His eyes were narrow and had a narrow cat-like appearance about them too.

He couldn’t stop looking at his new features with a mounting sense of horror. _How had this happened?_ He thought in rising panic. Could he change back? He whimpered as one thought cut through the rest. _I can’t let Papyrus see me like this!_ He stiffened at the thought. Paps would be terrified of him in this strange new form. He was big and menacing and Papyrus was just a little kid. Sans sat back down on the cot and tried to calm down. I can change back he reassured himself. It was likely true. Gaster may be crazy, but he wouldn’t trap him like this. He wouldn’t be able to experiment on him the same way as before and then all that past research would have been useless. He wouldn't... right?. 

Sans closed his eyes and tried to calm down. He forced his mind to slow its chaotic thoughts and focus on nothing. He felt his mind numbing and imaginary walls forming around his consciousness as he entered The Quite Place. It was the deepest part of his mind where Sans escaped to during particularly awful experiments. He had built it as his sole line of defense against Gaster. No one could harm him here and Sans knew he could stay here for excessive amounts of time. His longest standing record had been a full weak. It was from a time when the scientist had wanted to see how much magical pressure his bones could take before breaking. Sans hardly remembered anything from that experiment, but he still had plenty of poorly healed cracks to remind him of it. It hardly mattered. Sans didn’t like dwelling on the past. The future was what he kept his focus on. 

Sans forced away the straying thoughts and slowly went to work on building a mental image of his previous form. It had to be precise. From the shape of his skull, to the length of his toes, every detail must be taken into account before trying to change his physical shape. He didn’t exactly know if it mattered if his image was perfect, but he wanted to play it safe rather than sorry. The last thing he needed was to be trapped in a misshaped form.

Once the image was completed, Sans felt pressure begin to build up around his soul. He ground his teeth as the horrible pain hit him. His bones burned and began to shake as the transformation began. With several pops and cracks, Sans felt his bones dislocate and shrink in on themselves to make his smaller form, holding back a grunt of pain. It hurt, as one could expect, but at least this time he didn’t black out and it seemed quicker than it had the first time. When it was over Sans lifted his hands to his face. They were his normal, humanly shaped skeletal hands. He ran his hands over his skull and was relieved to feel its familiar smoothness. Sans caught sight of the branded bar code on his left wrist, W.D.G. Sub. S-1. 

Sans flinched at the sight of his ID code. As much as he was afraid of what it represented, he also felt the familiar anger rise with in him. Sans was only seven years old, but he liked to think he was a lot smarter than he let on. He had taught himself to read by looking at the notes Gaster kept out on the counters in the labs while he performed experiments on him. Before he made The Quiet Place, Sans used the notes to distract himself from whatever the scientist was trying out that day. He was actually pretty good at it now that he had years of practice. 

From listening in on the scientist's volcano recordings and reading glimpses of his notes, Sans knew it was his fault that he and his brother suffered. Instead of the whole scientific community working with him, the scientist made it sounded like they were his own personal projects. If I could just get Paps and myself away, they'd be safe. He knew that people from the outside world couldn’t be trusted, trust was something you reserved for those you knew wouldn't break their promises, but there must be some place safe to hide. It was hard to imagine being in a place worse than the one he was in right now. The scientist was crazy and it scared Sans so, so much knowing that Papyrus was with him that very moment. 

Lately escaping was all Sans could think about. He thought about freedom in the rare time he got alone in his cell. He dreamed of it even as his bones were broken for some new experiment. One of these days he was going to break them out of here. He didn’t know how and it didn’t matter. Even if he had to sacrifice himself to keep Papyrus safe he would.

_________

It didn’t take long for Papyrus to be brought back. Sans heard the door to the cell click open and Papyrus was roughly shoved in by the scientist. He barely looked in Sans’ direction before leaving. He obviously didn’t care that he had managed to shift back to his humanoid form. He probably expected he would figure it out on his own. 

Sans turned all of his attention to his younger brother. Papyrus was a gangly skeleton, already half as tall as Sans. Though he was tall for his age, he was extremely thin. Sans was relieved his brother looked fine for the most part, but there was a large bandage covering his right eye and he seemed to still be recovering from the drugs the scientist had used to put him to sleep. _A rare generosity,_ Sans thought.

Sans suppressed the urge to growl and grabbed Papyrus into a hug. “What happened?” he asked quietly. While he rarely talked about his experiences with the scientist, he knew Papyrus liked to share them; it helped him cope.

Papyrus hugged him back in reply, “I-I don’t know. H-he di-did something to m-m-my eye.” He couldn't seem to stop shaking and it made his voice come out shaky and quiet.

Sans understood his fear, even if he had been asleep this time. Sometime experiments didn’t react well with their magic, causing them to get sick. It had happened to both of them plenty of times, each time they worried the other wouldn’t recover and that they’d be alone for the rest of their lives. 

Sans felt the fear and rage returning but he pushed it away. He needed to comfort Papyrus, not scare him more. He looked closely at the bandage covering his eye and saw a fain orange glow from within Papyrus’ skull.

“It’s okay bro.” He said more confidently than he felt. “He probably did the same thing he did to me, see?” Sans flashed his left eye bright cyan and gold. It hurt a lot to do in their magic resistant room and it quickly sputtered out. It reassured Papyrus however, and he sighed with relief. Sans often was tested with the ‘new stuff’ first and if it was a success it was tried out on Paps. Their magic was so similar that Papyrus hardly ever had trouble with what he was tested with. There were a few cases every now and then, like the time he was tested with controlling the Gaster Blaster Canons, but other than that Papyrus hardly ever got sick from an experiment. 

“You promise?” Papyrus asked, still uneasy. 

Sans winced, he hated making promises. The problem with promises was that they were a priceless debt that weren't easy to pay but they were the only thing of any real value to the two brothers. He tried not to make them But he could never resist the look son Papyrus's face when he was like this.

He took a deep breath and looked Papyrus in the eye. “Yeah, I promise. It’s going to be alright, Paps” He reassured him. I’ll make sure of it. There was no way he was going to let his brother grow up in the labs like he had. He was still a kid himself, but Sans felt much, much older than one. He felt ancient. He had no idea what life outside the labs was like but he was sure normal kids didn’t suffer on a regular basis like them. _This is a promise I will keep,_ he thought. 

It was late so Sans led Papyrus to the cot in the corner and they laid down next to each other. Paps snuggled up against his chest to feel the comforting thrum of magic emitted from his soul and almost instantly fell asleep. Sans, however, didn’t sleep as easily. He knew he should rest and prepare for the horrors that awaited him, but lying there with Papyrus safely in his arms, was one of his favorite moments of the entire day. Heck, it was the only thing that got him through the day. If Papyrus was in his arms, that meant he had survived another day in hell and they were that much closer to getting out of there alive. Eventually, Sans let himself slip into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I would love feedback.
> 
> EDIT: Alright I went through this chapter and fixed the major things that were bothering me as well as the mistakes that were pointed out to me by the wonderful Luxe3710. Thanks dude! If I missed anything else don't be afraid to speak up and tell me, pointers are always greatly appreciated!


	3. When All Hell Breaks Loose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

It was dark, darker yet darker. Sans opened his eyes and could have sworn they were still closed it was that dark. After a couple moments his eyes adjusted to the gloom and he was able to tell he was back in the labs. His scrubs were gone reveling all the scars that had accumulated on his bones over the years. He was strapped down to the table again, this time with a brace, holding his head firmly in place. _Oh._ Sans instantly knew which dream he was having. He hadn’t had this particular nightmare for a couple nights now, but he knew with a certain, twisted feeling what was going to happen next.

The brightness of the lights being turned on still surprised him enough to flinch. Gaster was standing over him, taking notes like he always did before a procedure. Sans felt fear prickling his spine and he struggled against his straps. _No no no no no. Not again please not again!_ He felt as though he had relived this memory a hundred times already. He couldn't do this again not again please…

He whimpered. “Pl-please don’t do this.” His voice was younger; more proof that this wasn't real, but the sane part of him was quickly slipping into panic and all he could think about was the pain and Angel's sake _please_ don't bring back the pain.

Gaster hardly glanced up from his notes, “Quiet S-1. The procedure will commence with or without your cooperation. Make this easier for the both of us and stop struggling.”

Sans never knew what he meant when he said ‘easier for the both of us’. It was always easy for _him_. All he had to do was watch and take notes. He was the one who had to deal with the pain and horror. It was always the same; the scientist performed and Sans dealt. 

Done taking notes, the scientist set down the clipboard and pen and turned to a side table with surgical equipment on it. He knew what was on it. He knew he knew _he knew! Please, please don't._ Sans whimpered again and struggled in his restraints when the scientist turned towards him with some sort of miniature drill in hand. 

“If you would stop moving, this will hurt less.” he said in his empty voice, but Sans only jerked against the straps harder. He had to escape, had to. _Not again please, please don’t no!_

“W-why are you doing this?” he asked with a whimper.

He didn’t expect an answer but the royal scientist replied, “Because I have to, for the good of monster kind.” As he said it, he turned drill on, the thing making a horribly loud noise, and shoved it into Sans’ right eye socket.

The pain was unimaginable. The dwindling part of himself that knew this was fake forgot all together and all Sans could hear was himself scream as Gaster drove the drill deeper in his skull. He felt oddly detached from the sound though; like it was coming from a source outside his body. The pain was the only thing that felt real. _Please make it stop, please, please end it…_ He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but eventually, it did. 

Gaster didn’t seem pleased with the results. Sans, unable to open his right eye and unwilling to open the left, heard the royal scientist scribbling some notes and muttering darkly under his breath. “First attempt was a failure. The prototype refused to settle… It is unknown whether S-1’s eye will ever be fully functional after this.”

Sans breath hitched when he heard this. Things were turning out just great. He might be half blind and the procedure didn’t even work. He wouldn't have cared if it was a failure or not, if the scientist wasn's so perseverant in his projects. He only had two eyes, one more mess up and he would be completely blind.

Sans flinched when a hand grabbed the side of his face, shooting pain through his skull. He forced his left eye open and saw Gaster closely leaning over his face, examining his right eye socket. 

“Ah...” He said, “there’s the problem.” He quickly let go of his face and began rummaging through the instruament on the table again. “Forgot to consider excess magic from the subject… be so careless... perhaps I should try… only have one more chance though…”

Sans felt growing dread and fear. He had no idea what was going to happen anymore. Was this a dream? Sometimes he would just wake up. He wanted to wake up. 

The scientist was working on something at the counter by the wall. Once completed, Gaster retuned to Sans with a glint of determination in his eyes. 

“Let us try again S-1.” 

   
_________

Sans opened his eyes wide in fright. Where was he? Wha..? His left eye was burning bright with magic. Glancing around wildly, his eyes landed on Paps, still curled in his arms. With a sigh of relief, Sans slumped back against the cot. _It was just a nightmare,_ he told himself, eye flickering out. It had seemed so real though. Of course it _had_ been real at one point, but it was over now. He could still feel a dull ach in his skull, his blurry right eye throbbed specificly. Closing his eyes, Sans took a deep breath. _I am here in the now,_ he told himself. It had already happened and there was no point obsessing over it. He had to let it go and forget.

Sans wished he could forget. All of these memories and nightmares were building up inside of him. They blurred together. Sometimes his memories would follow him into his dreams. Now and then, he couldn’t tell if what he was dealing with was a hallucination or experiencing a real event. It was becoming increasingly hard to tell which was which but did it really matter? They were all the same anyways.

It seemed as though any semi-pleasant memory he had was being eaten away. He was scared that soon there would be nothing good left to remember. He clutched Papyrus a little closer. If anything happened to him, if he lost Paps somehow, he had no doubt that he would go insane. Sans tried to go to sleep but it was difficult. Sleep continued to elude him for almost the rest of the night, it always did after a nightmare.

___________

The sound of their cell door opening was what woke them both up the next day, jolting him awake with a fresh wave of panic. Sans blinked the sleep from his eyes and quickly stood to attention, dragging Papyrus, who was still rubbing sleep from his face, with him. 

The scientist stood in the doorway with a pair of arm and ankle cuffs for each of them. He tossed them the cuffs and they quickly put them on. Not doing so would lead to consequences they didn’t want to even think about. Once they were both restrained, the scientist led them through the halls of the secret labs to the testing chambers. It was where he made them demonstrate their new skills from the experiments. 

The scientist typed a code into the pad by the door and Sans idly noted that it was the same code he had used the last time they were here. It was almost impossible to measure time in the labs, but it had to have been at least several days ago. The door clicked open and they followed Gaster into a plain but spacious room. Today there were wooden target leaning against one of the walls. That’s it? Sans thought skeptically, Target practice? If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that the scientist sure loved to surprise them with twisted horrors. Often enough, it was a dangerous obstacle course or an attempted stage fight. Those fights rarely worked out the way the scientist planned though since neither of them put up much of a fight against the other. 

The royal scientist attached Papyrus’ cuffs to the far side of the room and turned to look back at Sans. “That was an avoidable inconvinience you cost me yesterday, S-1. You should have alerted me earlier of your restricted breathing. I’d assume the determination injected into you would make you more willing to live.” Ah he was talking about his transformation in the labs. If Sans hadn’t known better, he would have thought Gaster was genuinely upset with him. But he knew better. The scientist was just angry that all of his hard work had almost gone to waste.

Sans arched a nonexistent eyebrow at him. "Tibia honest doc, you’re the genius here. You should have thought about my change of size. I’m just a stupid bone-headed test subject, remember?” It was a risk, acting like a smart mouth, but Sans couldn't keep back his biting words all the time. It didn't make him regret speaking out any less though when he saw the annoyed scowl stretch the scientist's face.

“Mind your place S-1,” he said in a warning tone “or I’ll be have you practice your abilities on P-2 today.” His face was expressionless and Sans had no doubt that Gaster would follow through with his threat. 

He glanced over to Papyrus to see his reaction. Paps looked nervous but didn’t seem to fully understand what they were talking about. He’d have to explain what happened in the lab room later. Sans hated that Papyrus was there at all. There was no reason for him to be. Papyrus was only there to get Sans to do what the scientist wanted. 

“Now,” said the scientist, “I want you to shift. Today we will be testing your new magical capabilities.”

Sans gave an inward shudder but it only took a warning glare for him to begin the transformation process. He easily entered The Quiet Place and an image of his beast-like form appeared almost instantly. It was already beginning to feel natural, though it still hurt. At this point Sans was starting to suspect it always would. By the time he was finished he was panting on all fours, head lowered in concentration and pain.

He heard a gasp from where Papyrus was by the wall and couldn't help but curl his tail around himself. He should have known Pap would see him like this eventually, but he had hoped he wouldn’t be forced to like _this_ ; It was like he was being shown on display.

The scientist wasted no time in explaining what he wanted Sans to do and went on to explaining that in this form, S-1's magic could be expressed in different ways. For instance, instead of using his bone magic, he should now be able to create a high powered laser from the raw magic of his soul. This was what he wanted him to test out today which explained the targets on the wall.

Sans, slowly uncurled from his He couldn't help the mild curiosity , turned to the targets and reached for the magic pulse that was his soul. He willed it to grow, similarly to how he coaxed out his bone magic. Gripping his powers, he imagined pushing them towards the target closest to him. A buzz began to grow inside of his chest, rising up along his vertebrae and bursting out of his mouth in a searing blue-white blast. Sans hadn’t expected a knockback, so when he released the energy, he was launched back on his back by a couple of feet. 

_Whoa! _He thought in surprise. This was almost cool. If it weren't for the fact it had been forced upon him, Sans might have actually liked testing this out. He quickly scrambled back to his feet to see a big, black burn mark on the wall in between two of the targets. he really did need the practice though, his aim was awful.__

The scientist glanced at Sans, “Again.”

Sans huffed through his nose cavity and braced himself for a long practice. This was going to take a while. All excitement aside, his aim was atrocious and he knew the scientist will make him practice until he hit every single target. Not to mention that that one blast alone had made a significant dent to his magic reserves. It wasn’t like his powers were bottomless, he had his limits, but it usually took more than one attack to wear him down.

____________

Just as he predicted, the scientist had him blasting away at the targets until they were all piles of smoldering cinders. By the end of the demonstration Sans was so tired, he could barely keep his head up. Stumbling over to the scientist, he didn’t bother to shift as he was chained to the wall and he was thankful the scientist didn't try to make him. 

Sans expected that to be it, but then the scientist turned to Papyrus and removed the bandages from his eye. There was nothing different about it in appearance but that didn't stop Sans from tensing. What was the scientist doing? 

Papyrus must have been wondering something similar along the lines. Nervously he looked up at the scientist, waiting for instructions. 

“Summon your bone magic.” He ordered his voice clipped and precise. 

Both he and Sans flinched at the command. Pap was horrible with bone magic and if he didn’t perform to hiss expectations, he would most likely be punished. Papyrus extended his hands and with great concentration, he summoned a long bone spear into existence. It fell into his palms and when he gripped it, his new right eye flared orange. 

Sans blinked in surprise, it had actually stayed solid on contact for once. This was a first. It must be his new eye giving him the extra boost. It still took him a lot of concentration to summon the bone, but this was a huge improvement from the last time he attempted magic. 

If the scientist was impressed, he hid it well. Moving his gaze from Papyrus to Sans, he said shortly, “Attack him.” Sans felt his soul twist in his chest. He _knew_ he had something twisted planned for today. This was what he got for being a smart mouth earlier. Papyrus looked at him, his own shock and dread mirrored in his eyes. He knew what was coming next. Sans closed his eyes and prepared for a blow that never came.

He hardly heard Papyrus mumble, “No.”  
Sans opened his eyes wide in shock. What? He could hardly believe it. Had his brother just said _no_ to the royal scientist? He didn’t know if he should be insanely proud of his brother or scared out of his mind for him.

The Scientist had a much, much worse response. “What?” he asked with the kind of deadly calm that haunted Sans’s nightmares.

Papyrus stood tall against his growing wave of rage. “No.” he repeated stronger this time “I won’t hurt my brother!” he shouted. Sans flinched, oh he had done it now. They never yelled at the scientist, _never_. What was wrong with him? Where had this sudden burst of rebellion come from? He should have just hit him and be done with it, he could’ve taken it. Now, it was going to be so much worse. 

Sans whined and looked at Paps with pleading eyes. _Just do it already. I’ll be fine._ But Papyrus only gave him a smile and turned back to stand facing the scientist, his bone spear now turned to him even as his hands shook.

the scientist spoke with his terrifyingly quiet voice, “Turn around and hit S-1 or I will do it myself and you will be punished.” 

“H-his name is Sans!” he yelled at him and lifted his quivering arms to make an move. But the scientist was faster.

“Have it your way.” He snarled. With his dark purple and indigo magic, he grabbed Papyrus by his soul and flung him into a wall.

Something nameless and animalistic snapped in Sans’ chest when he saw his brother crumble to the floor across the room. No! he couldn't let him hurt him! He lurched against his chains with a ferial snarl, growling a challenge at the scientist as he turned his back to him and began to approach his brother. Papyrus was struggling to his feet but San knew with the sickest feeling in his nonexistent gut that he wouldn't be able to put up a fight.

The scientist only looked back with mild annoyance over his shoulder like he was no more than an obnoxious kitten to him. “Wait your turn S-1.” he said as he walked over to his brother. Sans growled again and pulled against his restraints. He heard them creak against the strain and with panic, anger, and renewed hope lending him strength, Sans pulled harder and was rewarded with a clean snap and clatter as the chain broke free from the wall. 

It was one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.
> 
> Edit: Yay another chapter edited! Again big thanks to Luxe3710 for the corrections ^^


	4. Echoes and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

Sans ran at the scientist in a blinded rage, energy building in his mouth. The scientist heard the chain break and turned just in time to see the attack coming. He tried to doge it by jumping to the side, but he was too late. The blast hit the side of his face and he was knocked off his feet from the impact. He landed in a heap and didn’t try to get up. Sans's soul leaped in his ribcage. Did he kill him? he didn't have time to check.

Sans ran to where Papyrus was still huddling against the wall. He whimpered and tried to nudge him onto his back so he could carry him. His own tiredness was forgotten in the renewed rush of magic. Papyrus caught on to what he was trying to do and he clung to the broken chain around Sans’ neck for leverage. 

Once Papyrus was fully on his back, Sans ran from the room, knocking the door open with a small blast from his mouth. The scientist sure hadn’t thought Sans’ powers through. He hadn’t added any extra security or anything to prevent him from escaping. Instead of making him relax, it only served to put Sans on edge. 

As they ran through the lab, they encountered no one. It was almost eerie how quite everything was. Where was everyone? Surly there were other monsters that worked here. Sans had never seen anyone besides Gaster but he had always assumed there were others here working on their own projects. It didn’t matter now, he‘d think about that later. Right now he needed to find a way out of here. Running through the corridors, Sans franticly looked for a door or sign, anything that would indicate where the exit was.

Soon, he found a stairway that led up. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he thought he felt a slight breeze coming from it. It was his best option at the moment and Sans sprinted up the stairs. After countless steps, Sans reached more hallways and doors. Guided by the draft, he made his way through the labyrinth of halls until he reached a door that appeared to be an emergency exit. With renewed hope, Sans pushed it open and stood in the outside for the first time in his life.

Sans had never seen so many colors before. The whole scenery was full of red and brown hues. It was warm too, almost to the point of discomfort. The rocky ground seemed to radiate heat into the air around him. 

Sans stole himself for a moment to take in his surroundings. It was so much bigger out here than in the labs. Sans felt the wideness of the place spreading around him. It was like he had never stretched his bones before now. He could feel himself relax slightly as he finally left the claustrophobic halls. He hadn’t even realized how cramped he had felt. After a moment of catching his breath, he broke into another run, intending to get as far away from the place as possible before Gaster came looking from them. He knew he hadn’t killed him. It would take more than one hit to kill Gaster.

Dashing through, the hot place Sans hardly noticed the passing landscape around him. Once again his first priority was to get Papyrus as far away from Gaster as possible but since Papyrus was relatively safe, he felt the rush that had been sustaining him fade.

Sans forced his rapidly tiring feet forward step by tiring step. Have to get away, have to get away, have to get away. He chanted the words in his mind until, his vision blurred and his feet refused to work properly. Sans felt himself trip over something and he fell face first into the ground. Oomph! 

He jerked up, shaking his head to clear it and looked around to check on Papyrus. His brother had held on during his mad dash and was now looking at him with concerned eyes.

“Brother! Are you okay? We should stop and rest, you’re hurt!” It was true. The fall had left his bones sore and scraped. None of them were serious, but they aggravated his older wounds. Sans lowered Papyrus to the ground before shifting. Papyrus watched him in amazed silence before taking his brother’s newly formed hand.

“Does it hurt?” he asked. Of course he would only be thinking of him. Papyrus had always been so selfless.

“Only a bit” he lied. It still hurt him like hell to change. “I’m, okay Paps.” He assured him. “I’m more worried about you, what were you thinking back there? You shouldn’t have talked to Gaster like that. You should have just hit me.” While he was proud that his brother had made a stand against the scientist, Sans was worried. He didn’t want him to do something like that again. It would lead to more trouble than it was worth and Sans was willing and fully capable of protecting them. If it was a matter of life or death, he wanted Papyrus to run and save himself.

“No!” Papyrus protested. “I couldn’t hit you, we’re family and without standing up for us, we wouldn’t have ended up where we are now.” He raised his hands to indicate the cave around them and Sans took the opportunity to actually view their surroundings. 

They were no longer in the hot place. Instead of red and brown rocks and heat, they were surrounded by more grey toned walls and damp, cool air. It was darker than the previous caves and the ground was a bit soggy underfoot. There was a soft, blue light emitting from somewhere, but Sans couldn’t locate the source. Looking up he let out a gasp of amazement. The roof of the cavern was lit up with thousands of tiny glowing specks. They covered the entire ceiling in pretty swirls and patterns.

“W-what are they?” asked Papyrus, who had followed his eyes to the view above. “They look like those things in the stories called stars.”

When Sans was younger, Gaster sometime had ‘good days’ when he would be in an almost kind mood. On those days he’d tell him stories about the surface. He told him about the stars and wide open spaces and the big blue ceiling called the sky and the sun that lit up the whole world. Though the good days were almost nonexistent by the time Papyrus came along, Sans remembered every single one of those stories and had retold them to his brother. 

“Yeah they do, don’t they?” 

A gasp came from the other. “Does this mean we’re on the surface?” Papyrus asked with excitement.

“Nah bro,” he replied, still looking at the ceiling “These are pretty, but they’re not stars. We’re still in a cave, remember?” 

“Oh” Papyrus said with a pout.

“Aww don’t worry Paps” Sans said, trying to sound light heated, “You’ll see the surface someday.”

Papyrus tore his gaze away from the ceiling to look at him, “Really? Wow that would be so much fun! Not only would we have the whole underground to explore, but an entire world too!” he exclaimed, clapping his hand in excitement. Then his usually bright smile faltered a bit, “You’ll be there too right? Up on the surface?” 

Sans internally kicked himself. He had only said Papyrus would see the surface. Why was his self-consciousness always so morbid? He forced his ever present smile even wider and said with as much cheer as possible, “Of course Paps, we are ‘verte-bros’ aren’t we?” He winked and chuckled as Papyrus groaned in annoyance. “Come on Paps, don’t you have a funny bone?” 

His brother swatted him with a hand, “Noooooo Sans, your jokes are horrible!” Though despite his best efforts, he was giggling.

“What? But I thought they were Sans-ational!” he said with mock hurt in his voice. 

“Ugh! Stop, stop, stop!” the smaller skeleton cried in exasperation, laughing harder.

Chuckling, the older brother conceited, “Alright, alright I guess I’m too ‘humerus’ for my own good.” The younger skeleton shot him an annoyed glance but Sans just smiled innocently “Come on Papyrus we should probably find a place to rest.” He glanced both ways down the tunnel they were crouching in. He couldn’t see any caves leading off from the one they were currently in.

Papyrus tugged on his arm. “While you were running we passed a couple of caves.” He said, pointed down the way they had come. 

Sans couldn’t remember seeing any caves but then again, he hadn’t exactly been focused on what was around him. Picking Papyrus up in his arms, Sans made his way back through the cave.

This really was a nice place. It was quiet but not like the unsettling quiet that was in the labs. This kind of quiet was peaceful and with the glowing lights, it was the most beautiful and calming place Sans had ever been. Though that didn’t say much considering that he had been trapped in the same place for most of his life.

After walking for a short time, Sans found a small cave entrance that was hardly more than a crack in the wall. It was half hidden behind a rocky ledge and seemed to be a perfect place to hide. Setting Papyrus down so he could get through, they cautiously side stepped their way inside. The small tunnel was a bit unsettling, but it soon opened up into a large cavern. 

Both brothers gasped in amazement. This cave made the specks on the ceiling look like bits of dust in comparison. The whole room was covered in shining, blue crystals. Not just the ceiling, but the walls and even the ground were covered in the shining light. Across the cavern, a river trickled past, filling the cavern with the soothing sound of water dripping. In the center of the cave, there was a single bench and a couple of strange blue flowers. Sans wondered if someone was likely to find them here but he found it unlikely the bench looked like it hadn’t been used in ages.

Papyrus let out a happy laugh and ran around the room. “This place is so cool!” he exclaimed. He ran to the cave wall and examined some of the crystals. “How do you think they glow like that Sans?”

His brother, looked around the room with less energy and enthusiasm and replied, “It’s probably some sort of magic to light up the caves, you know, so monsters can see?”

“But there are so many here! Maybe this place belongs to someone.” He didn’t seem worried by this, just curious. “Would they mind us staying here for the night?”

“Bro I think this place is abandoned. If it belonged to someone, then they haven’t been here in a while. We don’t have anything to worry about at the moment.”

Papyrus looked thoughtful, “I wonder what the monsters out here are like.”

Sans felt a shiver crawl up his spine. “Yeah and let’s hope we never find out.” 

He went to the bench and sat down on it. It wouldn’t be the most comfortable place to sleep, but it would do. Both of them had dealt with worse than an uncomfortable bed. Papyrus soon followed Sans and they laid down next to each other. Sans held Papyrus in his arms on top of him so he would be more comfortable while he was stretched out across the bench.

Hugging him close Sans remembered their earlier conversation. “I’m serious Paps, the next time there’s trouble I want you to run. No talking back, no fighting. If there is a problem I want you to get as far away as possible.”

Papyrus started in his arms, “What? No! I don’t want to leave you.”

Sans sighed, he knew Papyrus wouldn’t listen. “And hopefully you won’t have to. Please Paps, just promise me you won’t do anything stupid in a situation like the one back in the labs. If you got hurt because of me I-I…” He took a deep breath to calm himself “I don’t know what I would do.” Papyrus was silent for a moment. Sans could almost imagine the inner struggle his brother was going through.

“Please Papyrus.” He begged “You’re all I care about. Besides, you know me. I can take care of myself.”

That seemed to make up Papyrus’ mind “Ok, I’ll run” he conceded “but only if I have to and you have to promise me you’ll come back afterwards.”

Sans cringed inwardly at that. He was glad Papyrus couldn’t see his face. If he did, then he would know that he wasn’t sure that would happen. 

Forcing his voice to remain calm, Sans said, “I promise I’ll come back if you run when I tell you to ok?

“Ok” Papyrus replied, instantly believing him. After all, his brother never broke a promise. His body relaxed as he drifted off to sleep. Again, it was hard for Sans to follow. The promise had unsettled him and if Sans was honest with himself, he really didn’t want to have another nightmare. He swore he could feel one lurking at the edge of his consciousness like a ghost. He fingered the chain still attached around his neck and shivered.

What kind of horrors would await him tonight? Would he be injected with determination or be forced to watch his brother being tortured because he hadn’t been strong enough during his endurance tests? Or would it be some horrible breed of a nightmare that wasn’t even a true memory? Sans let out a harsh laugh that held no warmth. His mind sure was creative he would give himself that. 

He jerked in surprise, his left eye flashing blue and gold when he heard someone laugh next to him. Was someone else here? His eyes landed on the blue flower closest to the bench. The flower laughed again and this time Sans recognized his own voice. The flower was echoing him. 

“Ha… ha…, you gave me a fright there, buddy.” He said to the flower.

The flower echoed back “… you gave me a fright there, buddy… you gave me a fright… you…” It echoed his voice a couple of times, the words overlapping in whispered voices, until the sound of water replaced them again. 

Sans smiled in grim amusement. It was fitting, wasn’t it? That was exactly how he felt, an echo. He cared for his brother, he really did. It was just that he was so tired of trying. Every day for as long as he could remember had been a struggle, a struggle he had been losing before Papyrus came along. He really didn’t know what he would do without him. 

If he was a fading echo, then his brother was a shout. Papyrus was so full of life and found joy in everything. He was so excited at the prospect of having an adventure, and not being able to see the real stars hadn’t dampen his enthusiasm at all. He was positive and optimistic despite everything he went through. He reminded Sans of himself before all of his hope was crushed. 

He sighed, closing his eyes. This didn’t make any sense, even to him. They were free now. They had the whole underground to explore and he was still unhappy. What more could he possibly want? The head scientist couldn’t hurt them anymore, Papyrus was safe, and his little brother was happy. 

He knew why he was unhappy. It was because he didn’t deserve any of this. He had done horrible things in the labs. Gaster had had him kill living things to practice his magic. He had hurt Papyrus more times than he could count. It terrified him to think that he was that kind of person. Papyrus had out right refused to hit him while he cowered before the scientist and did his every whim and command. If he had tried to fight sooner would they have been able to escape? 

Sans let his thoughts wander away from him for almost half the night before his exhaustion caught up with him. Back in the labs he would sometimes go several days without any real sleep but it had been a tiring day. He had spent a lot of magic and had ran who knew how far to get away from the scientist. His eyes dropped as he finally fell asleep. That night all Sans dreamt of was a darkness so deep it chilled him to his very core.

 

Gaster trailed a long bone finger over the new crack in the side of his face. He had been careless. He should have anticipated S-1’s new physical capabilities. His whole being had completely transformed. It shouldn’t have been a stretch to assume he had new abilities beyond what Gaster had anticipated, especially when dealing with large amounts of Determination. Gaster starred at the burn marks Sans had left on the walls of the testing chamber. He would have to retrieve them somehow. He couldn’t let them come in contact with anyone, not that they’d be keen to. They would be wary of their new surroundings, which just makes them dangerous. 

“Stupid,” he muttered to himself “I’ve been so stupid.” 

Stupid to think they wouldn’t risk trying to run. He should be surprised that they hadn’t attempted to get away sooner. After everything he had done to them he would have run too. Stop it. He told himself sternly. They were experiments and nothing more. He looked down at the holes in the palm his hands. They weren’t even natural. He had created them using bits and pieces of his own body and soul, all in the name of science. Gaster let out a cold, bitter laugh. Everything he did was in the name of science and for the benefit of monster kind. What were two monsters in the face of thousands? Those two could be the key to breaking the barrier trapping them in this hell hole.

Still, Gaster couldn’t help but think of the panic in S-1’s eyes as he blacked out from being unable to filter magic out of the air. “Stop it!” He snarled He slammed his fist into the wall, a crack spreading from his hand to the far side of the room. Purple and indigo sparks dancing through the air around him. He felt his eye pulse with magic as he fought to regain his

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.
> 
> EDIT: In the process of being edited ^^


	5. Silent as a Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

When they woke up the next day Sans forced himself back into action. He decided that they needed to find some better clothing. Their thin scrubs were getting filthy and torn. Not to mention they were damp from being in these caves all night. They also needed to find something to eat. The brothers were usually fed twice a day. Once in between experiments and endurance tests during the day and again before they went to bed. The night before their escape, Sans couldn’t remember being given anything and neither of them had had the chance to eat before they were taken to test their skills.

Sans could feel the place where he ought to have a stomach twist in hunger. Papyrus wasn’t doing much better. Slipping out of the hidden cave, they continued down the cave in the direction leading away from the hot place. The brothers wandered through streams and swampy areas until they came to a huge waterfall. It came from somewhere far beyond their sight up in the ceiling. Downstream, there were huge piles of trash floating in the water. Did this stuff come from the surface? The junk definitely looked strange. There were boxes and cans and weird objects sans didn’t have a name for. With Papyrus’ help Sans looked through the piles for food or cloths. They managed to find a couple of torn blankets along with some damp and oversized clothes. 

Sans took a particularly large blue jacket, t-shirt, and a blanket Papyrus insisted on him having from their findings, but gave the rest of the clothing to the smaller skeleton. He would need more instillation than Sans did to keep his magic running. 

They didn’t find much food-wise unfortunately. Unlike monster food, human food spoiled and there was hardly anything edible in the trash heap. The only food they found was a semi-damp box of crackers. Even these weren’t much as human food didn’t have the magic levels that monsters needed. Overall, the stuff they found was unsatisfying and only seemed to make them hungrier.

They needed to find a more reliable source of food if they were to make it by themselves. Sans could think of nothing else to do but to keep moving forward. They’d find somewhere better to settle down. Someplace where there was food and shelter the scientist would never find them.

They continued their journey through the wetlands. It might have been Sans’ imagination but he could have sworn the twisting passages were getting more confusing. He felt as though they had turned down the same tunnel three times already. Despite tiring easily, Sans refused to shift and walk on four, sturdier legs.

His beast-like form had its perks but the whole idea of it scared him. Something like this wasn’t supposed to be possible. The pain Sans felt whenever he shifted was a reminder of that. It was unnatural and the primal instincts he felt back when the royal scientist hit Papyrus had completely overridden his voice of reason. That scared him most of all. At the time, all he could think was protecting his brother and ripping Gaster to shreds for what he had done. This wasn’t a bad thing really, but what if he turned on Papyrus in one of these uncontrollable mood swings? Some small, hopeful part of Sans thought that if he just pretended the beast wasn’t there, then it would disappear and leave him alone. He knew that was just childish thinking but he still didn’t shift in case it set off his animalistic instincts.

Because they continuously got lost, they spent a couple of days in the tunnels, occasionally running into other monsters. If they saw one coming, Sans and Papyrus would hide in a side cave or behind a rock ledge. Papyrus didn’t understand why they were hiding from them. His childish instinct to trust others was still intact and he was truly curious what they were like. 

“Why don’t we just try talking to them?” he asked Sans for the umpteenth time as they splashed through yet another stream. 

“Because, Papyrus, We can’t trust them. They might turn us in to the scientist and then we’ll be back in the labs.” Sans answered.

Papyrus frowned. “But we don’t know if they would.” He argued. “What if they are nice and want to help us?”

Sans let out a huff of exasperation, his patience starting to wear thin. He truly didn’t understand Papyrus’ urge to talk to them. Even if they didn’t turn them in they might tell the scientist where they were.  
“But what if they aren’t nice Paps?’ he asked with earnest. He needed Papyrus to see they danger they could be. “They could turn us in or trap us. They are just as likely to be dangerous as they are to being nice. We’re just playing it safe.”

Papyrus still wasn’t convinced. “I bet they’ve got food though.” His gaze lost a little of its focus as Papyrus imagined an actual meal. He’d even be happy with the gross goop from the labs at this point.  
Sans felt a little guilty for not being able to help Papyrus. Most if not all the food they found went straight to the younger brother but it still wasn’t enough to fill him. Sans himself was hungrier than he could ever remember being and the pain in his ribs was an ever constant reminder that they were slowly starving to death.

“They probably do” he agreed grudgingly, “but that doesn’t mean we should go up to them and ask for it. Even if it’s not a trap, why would they help us?” 

“Why wouldn’t they?” Papyrus countered. “If I saw a couple of lost monsters I would help them.

His guilt and worry was starting to get on his nerves and he snapped, “So what if you would? That doesn’t mean they would help us. We’re just two random kids and if they knew where we came from, they’d hate us all the more. We are just experiments to them Paps!” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sans cringed. God, he hadn’t even been thinking when he spoke, though that wasn’t exactly new terrain. Could he not do anything right just once in his pathetic life?

Papyrus’ eyes had gone big during his little rant and when he called themselves experiments, his face fell. 

Sans stopped walking and turned Papyrus to face him “I’m sorry Papyrus, I didn’t mean that. It’s just-“

“It’s ok Sans,” he interrupted, “we don’t need to talk to anyone.” He tried to sound upbeat and light, but Sans knew he had hurt him.

He said quietly, “Not all monsters are as amazing as you, Paps. You’re one of a kind.”

Papyrus grinned a little more genuinely at that. “Really?”

“Really, really” he confirmed “That’s why I’m so lucky I got you as my brother.” 

They continued to walk in silence after that. Sans was still furious with himself. What was wrong with him lately? He just couldn’t say anything right the first time. He knew their existence was a tricky and cruel subject to bring up, but it was true. They weren’t monsters, not really. 

They had been created artificially in the labs and both of them had grown up knowing this. Gaster was their creator and closest thing they had to a father but he didn’t care about them like they were his children. He rarely showed any emotion around them and usually it was anger or annoyance. They didn’t have a mother, no real family; they were just pieces of material the scientist used to conduct experiments. They weren’t supposed to think or talk back. They were made to be lab rats and do as they were told. 

The further they traveled away from the hot place, the colder it seemed to get. The water didn’t drip from the ceiling as much and the ground was covered in a thin layer of white, crunchy powder in the mornings. There were also cold drafts blowing through the tunnels, like there was a big space up ahead. 

Encouraged, Sans picked up Papyrus and walked faster. Rounding, a bend Sans stopped short at what he saw. The tunnels ended and opened into a caver so big, he couldn’t see the walls or ceiling. That wasn’t what surprised him though. The entire area was covered in white, powdery stuff that reminded him of the bits he’d seen in the water tunnels. It was a lot colder here too, though it didn’t really bother him. Skeletons weren’t immune to the cold or heat, but they could handle extreme conditions better than most monsters. 

There were big structures around him, also covered in the white stuff. Sans thought that the stuff was called snow and the structures were trees but wasn’t sure. The scientist sometimes mentioned random things to himself while reading over his notes so Sans picked up a lot of different words. The scientist wouldn’t answer him when he asked what they meant. Instead, he would look up from whatever he had been doing and say ‘Experiments don’t need to know such things.’ There was always a warning implied whenever he said these words. You are a lab rat. Keep your head down, do what you are told and don’t ask questions.  
Sans shuddered and forced his thoughts away. There would be plenty of time for them to haunt him in his nightmares. 

Sans blinked his eyes warily as they exited the cave and began walking through the snow covered trees. Everything was covered in snow and it hurt his unaccustomed eyes and while he was nothing but bones, he could feel the cold. While it was definitely colder than it had been before, Sans could still deal with it. Papyrus on the other hand, began to shiver next to him. Sans unwrapped his blanket from around his shoulders and gently folded it around Papyrus, the last thing they needed was for one of them to fall down. 

Sans shivered but it had nothing to do with the cold. There were a few things Gaster had explained to them when they were both old enough to understand. As soon as Papyrus could speak properly, which the scientist said was remarkably soon compared to most monsters, he had explained to them life. The scientist told them how monsters were made of matter and emotions and hope, but primarily of magic. How magic was in everything around them. It was in every living creature you lay your eyes upon. It was in inanimate objects and the very air itself.  
Gaster told them how magic could show itself in its more pure forms as well. Fire, light, basically heat, were the closest things you could find that were raw magic. The purest forms of magic can only be found in a monster’s soul.

The scientist then explained to them what happened when a monster fell down. Monsters were beings that had tight connections to their magic. Cut off their supply of magic from say, food, air, or ‘heat’ and they’d eventually turn to dust. 

The magic within them was also vitally important to one’s health. A monster’s core or soul was made entirely out of magic. The soul was also the central point of a monster’s emotions. Hope, happiness, curiosity, and even anger or fear could stimulate a soul and produce powerful magic. But despair, hate, cowardice, and ambition, could corrupt a soul. Bad emotions could twist it into something unrecognizable to even its owner. They could also destroy a soul completely. Bad emotions turned in on one’s self were especially life threatening to a monster. 

Sans new that neither of them had the best spirits at the moment but that wasn’t what he was worried about. Papyrus had a fun loving personality that always managed to bring a smile to his older brother’s face. He was so naturally filled with exuberance and hope that you could practically feel it in his soul. Even Sans had some hope, though not nearly as much as his brother. He liked to think that what he lacked in hope he made up for in Determination. He certainly had a lot of that. 

Sans was more worried about the physical sources of magic. If Papyrus’ core got too cold, then it would shut down. Sans felt the Determination burn white hot in his bones. He knew for a fact he would die before he let something as simple as the cold hurt his brother.

After walking through countless snowdrifts, the brothers came upon a small sign nailed into the trunk of a tree. Wiping the snow away from it so he could read it, Sans discovered they were near a place called Snowdin. Snowdin… He thought, and then suddenly it clicked.

“Bro, do you get it? We’re in Snowdin! Snow’d- in!” He exclaimed, smiling so wide, his face hurt. “Gosh I love this place already.”

Papyrus just stared at him for a moment before he got it. “Nooooooo!” he cried. He grabbed Sans’ hand and tried to pull him back the way they had come. “No! No! We are not going to a place named after a pun, Sans!”

“Come on Paps it’s perfect. We haven’t even seen the place yet!” he was still smiling like a maniac. Besides it’s the only place we’re likely to find food out here so if you want to go all the way back to the wet caves, be my guest but I want to see what we can find here first.”

At the mention of food Papyrus stopped trying to pull Sans away and considered it. “Fine.” He grumbled, but I swear if everyone there is like you and they’re cracking jokes left and right, we’re leaving.  
Sans only laughed as they continued on their way through the forest. Not long after first seeing the sign, the brothers saw a couple of small houses through the trees. Keeping to the cover of the forest, Sans and Papyrus mad their way around the perimeter of the small town. There weren’t that many houses this close to the woods, but Sans guessed the town was bigger than it appeared. 

Making sure no one was in sight, they slipped out from between the trees and further into Snowdin. It wasn’t quite dark yet but the monsters here already seemed to be settling down for the night. The cheery streets, covered in tracks from the daily bustle of the community, were now empty. 

Keeping to the smaller and slightly neglected alley ways, the two skeletons made their way through town. It was unnerving, being this close to so many monsters but Sans knew that where there were people there was food. They just had to figure out where to look. They wandered around for a while, the crystals finally starting to lose their glow, before Papyrus discovered what the metal bins carried.  
It had been a lucky accident when Papyrus tripped and knocked over one of the bins. The loud crash seemed to be deafening ton the silent air. Sans and Papyrus froze at the noise, waiting for monsters to come out and attack them. When nothing happened, Sans relaxed a little and went over to see if Papyrus was ok. He was still kneeling in the snow, looking at the stuff that fell out of the bin. There was a lot of junk, but when he got closer, Sans could detect the unmistakable smell of food.

After that, they had gone around looking inside the metal containers, with a bit more stealth. Some cans yielded more than others, but overall both the brothers were better fed than they had been in days. At some point it had begun to snow. Sans momentarily pondered how this was possible inside a cave. Probably had something to do with magic he thought to himself. By the time they found enough scraps and call it quits, the crystals in the cavern ceiling were dim little specks, almost invisible in the falling snow. 

Sans carried his brother while Papyrus held their scraps in one of the blankets. Despite the dark and cold both skeletons were in better spirits than they had in days. They retraced their steps until they were at the edge of Snowdin again. Moving into the trees the brothers searched for a place to rest. There weren’t any random caves out here and despite their findings of food, Sans and Papyrus were exhausted from another long day of walking. Perhaps there was a tree that would offer some shelter. 

It was silent save for the crunch of snow under Sans’ feet. The bones of his toes were starting to go numb from walking bare foot. Neither of them had any shoes but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Now that they had a more reliable source of food they could go looking for a pair for Papyrus later and maybe even one for him to if he really needed it. 

Walking around a large tree trunk, Sans stopped in his tracks. Had he turned around at some point? He could have sworn the town was behind him. In front of Sans was another building, if it could still be called that. The house was small, maybe had three or four rooms in all. The windows were cracked and some were completely shattered. There were no lights shining from inside and all was silent as a ghost.  
It looked abandoned but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anything dangerous lurking nearby. Scanning the small clearing around the shack, Sans edged closer to it. Nothing else moved save for the gentle snow fall. Finally deeming it safe and unoccupied, the older skeleton set his brother down and approached the house. The door itself was boarded up but there were some sizable holes in the walls to use to get in.  
They crawled in on all fours through one of the biggest wholes and stood inside the house. The room they entered was just as bit as ragged and old as the outside. There was nothing in it except an old desk and a broken and misshaped lamp. Despite the emptiness of it, Sans could almost feel the ghosts of memories. This place had been someone’s home at one point. He wondered if they had left long ago. It had definitely been a few years since someone has set foot inside this place.

It was a bit unnerving, being in a place actually meant for living in. The walls brought back memories that Sans really didn’t want to remember right now so he focused on Papyrus.

The toddler was a bit unsure of the place as well, but he was walking around the room, eager to take a look around. Once you explored and knew everything about a place it wasn’t too scary. So, Papyrus used this tactic whenever Sans found them a place to sleep for the night. He ran his fingers over the walls, memorizing the roughness of them. He ventured over to the desk and opened one of the Paps glanced down the hallway that led to the rest of the house. This place was so big. Making sure Sans was following him, Papyrus led the way through the house. 

The other rooms were almost as barren as the first. The hallway led to a more open space that was divide by doorways. The door that was supposed to be the way in was to the side. In near it was a pile of rotting furniture and a broken, boxy object. It reminded Papyrus of the screen the tall man in the lab coat used to show him… stuff. 

He tried really hard not to think about that stuff. It was actually surprisingly easy to do. Papyrus had a special box in his head where he stored all of his scary thoughts and memories. As long as he kept it locked tight, nothing could come out and get him. It was a good solution and Papyrus was glad Sans had helped him come up with it back when he was really little.

He had been crying in his cell alone. The scientist had just left him there after hours of testing and now he was there all alone while Sans was with him. Papyrus hated it when he was alone. It gave him too much time to think, and if he thought too much he would start thinking about his day, and then he would remember what Gaster did… Papyrus cut off the rest of the thought. He really hated being alone.  
It felt like ages to Papyrus before Sans was brought back to the room by the royal scientist. He came in on wobbly legs and almost fell over when Papyrus stumbled over to him for a hug, burying his tear-stained face in the front of his scrubs. Sans laid a hand on his head and gently steered them to their cot in the corner. 

They sat still for a couple of moments, both were silent. Sans was quiet because he was tired from a long day of tests and experiments, and Papyrus was quiet because he just didn’t feel like talking for once. Papyrus was hardly ever this quiet so he immediately knew something was up. 

Sans asked “Bad day, Paps?” 

Papyrus only nodded. He really didn’t want to talk about it. It would just worry his brother. He already had enough to deal with and didn’t need his petty problems on top of it all. It was nothing, he was fine. Something must have shown on his face anyway, because Sans pulled him in for another hug.

“I’m here for you, Ok? It’s going to be alright, Paps. I’ll always be there for you, I promise.”

Papyrus sniffled and asked, “H-h-how do you do it, S-sans? How d-do you deal with th-the e-ex-experiments?” They’re a-all I-I can th-think about.”

Sans didn’t need to ask what he meant. He thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t, not really. I guess I just got used to it after a while.” Unsatisfied with his own answer, Sans tried to come up with a solution, “Try to keep your thoughts in a separate part of your mind, a box maybe.” He seemed to like the idea. “Yeah, imagine you have a big box that you shove all the nasty thoughts into. Once they’re in there, they won’t bother you. Your mind is your own, Paps, kick out the bad thoughts and focus on the good. Lock them up tight and don’t let them out. You shouldn’t dwell on what’s already happened.”

“I-I guess. It-it’s just s-so h-h-hard not to think about it w-when I’m alone.” He stammered through his sobs. 

“Then don’t think. Walk, sleep, do something to keep yourself occupied. Keep that box shut and don’t go near it.” He said, giving Papyrus a comforting squeeze. Sans sounded so sure and at ease with the whole thing, it helped calm him down a bit.

Papyrus took a shuddering breath, if Sans was so sure it would work, then he would give it a try. He had to be strong. Sans has dealt with this kind of thing for years and he has never seen him break down, ever. Sometime at night, he would get bad nightmares, but he always assured Paps afterwards that they were nothing. He believed him whole heartedly. After all, why would his brother lie to him about something like that? If Sans was having trouble he would talk to him. 

They were always there for each other. Even now, Sans was there when he needed to talk to him, and Papyrus was always trying to be energetic and positive for his brother. He hoped that his attitude and energy would rub off on his big brother, but he was always a lazy sack of bones. He still kept trying. At least he was a distraction from the bad thoughts.

Papyrus used the box idea ever since and it always worked for him. It was so easy for his toddler mind to ship off the bad things and only focus on the positive stuff. Like right now. Sure it was cold and dark and they were in a strange old building, but Sans was with him and they had actual food! He curled his fingers around the precious bundle in his hands. Those days in the wet caves had been really bad. It had been hard, even for himself, to stay positive and optimistic. He knew Sans hadn’t liked it there either. He hadn’t exactly been moody, but he always seemed to be on edge. The younger skeleton hopped Sans’ attitude would improve now that they had more food and a decent place to stay. 

The rest of the house was up a creaking set of stairs attached to the main space they were in. Going up the stairs, Sans had frozen whenever they made a particularly loud creak. Papyrus wasn’t sure if he was listening for any nearby monsters or he was afraid the stairs would collapse underneath them. It was probably a bit of both, knowing his protective brother.

There were two rooms up here. One of them was missing a door and it was a lot smaller than the rooms downstairs. It was full of old blankets, however, that the brothers quickly collected. The other room that still had a door was a bit bigger to the first one. It even had a surprisingly intact cot in a corner. It was a lot higher than their old cot in the labs for some reason. Perhaps the monsters that used to live here were really tall or something. But wouldn’t the ceilings be higher if that were the case? Perhaps they just like high places. 

Papyrus pondered on the question while Sans peered through one of the many small holes in the walls. The gaps let in cold drafts, but at least they blocked out most of the snow and the harshest winds. Papyrus eventually abandoned his thoughts and wandered over to join him, using a slightly lower crack to gaze out into the forest.

The snow was still falling in a quiet shower of silver. Papyrus thought it was almost as nice as the not-so-real stars. There had never been anything like this in the labs and once again, he was so grateful for whatever forces that helped them escape. 

Papyrus liked to think that there was something watching over them. It gave him a warm, giddy feeling, thinking there was someone out there who cared about them. It gave Papyrus hope that one day his brother and himself might fit in somewhere, to be part of a real family. The scientist was practically there father but he never wanted to love them. Papyrus had tried on several occasions to get Gaster to open up, but he never really succeeded. Sans didn’t even try. He always told him to let it go, that he was wasting his time on him. But if Papyrus knew one thing without a doubt, it was that everyone had a soul. So what if the scientist’s was a little further buried than his or his brother’s? He had it somewhere and Papyrus had been determined to find it before they escaped.  
The snow was really pretty, Papyrus thought dreamily. Watching it made him feel relaxed and sleepy. Sans also seemed to find it soothing. He opened his jaws wide in a silent yawn, the glimmer of light in his eyes, momentarily dimming. 

“C’mon Paps,” he murmured “lets sleep up here. We can use that chair over there to block some of the holes. And use a blanket or two to block some others.” He gestured to the broken piece of furniture that Papyrus hadn’t even noticed, it was that rotten and falling apart.” Setting his blankets and the little bundle of food on the high cot, He went over to help his brother push the heap of wood to a particularly demolished part of the wall. 

Huffing after a few moments of struggling and not much progress, Papyrus asked Sans with a tad bit of annoyance, “Can’t you just move this with your magic?”  
Sans stopped trying to move the furniture, sighed, but answered with patience, “I could, but I’d prefer not to.”

“Why?” he asked, the task at hand momentarily forgotten. 

“Because” Sans paused, trying to find a way to explain, “I want to save my magic. We… aren’t in the best of situations right now, Paps. We have shelter, but it’s full of holes and it’s almost just as cold in here as it is out there. We have food, but how lucky will be the next time we go searching for it? If someone finds us, I want to be as prepared as possible. That means saving magic for extreme emergencies only.”

He felt a little put out at hearing the list of problems they still had to deal with but tried to hide it. “Oh, does that mean I should save my magic too?”

Sans gave him a small, reassuring smile. “Yeah, but you won’t have to worry about fighting, ok? Just save your special stuff for keeping you running.” I don’t want you getting sick, alright?”  
Papyrus brightened at the smile. If Sans was smiling, then nothing could go wrong. “Ok!” he smiled up at his older brother. 

“Great now that we got that out of the way, toss me a bone here will ya? This thing is heavy!”

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Did you just make a pun?” 

Sans grinned and a mischievous spark shown in his eyes. Papyrus hated that look he knew what was about to come. “Sans!” he warned, “Don’t you dare…” but it was too late.

“Maaaaaaybe.” He said with mirth, “But I’m bone tired. It must have just slipped my mind.” He paused then laughed. “Oh wait! I don’t have one. We’re skeletons, all we have are bones, duh.” He smacked the side of his skull, his grin stretching even wider across his face.

“NO! Sans it’s too late for this, I can’t deal with this right now.” He cried. 

Sans pouted “Your no fun.”

“Uh-hu!” Papyrus protested. “I’m tons of fun! A lot more than you, you big bone head!”

“A skele-ton?” Sans asked, not at all rebuked by the insult. He seemed to be rather enjoying himself, his smile widening by the minute. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAUGGGGGGH!” Papyrus screeched. 

Sans exploded in laugher, “Calm down, bro! We both know you’re the best skeleton around.”

“You got that right.” Papyrus muttered. “I swear, Sans one day you are going to kill me with all of these horrible jokes.”

“Awww, now your just being mean.” He teased. Finally growing more serious he asked, “Are you going to help me move this thing or not?” he gestured to the Chair they had been previously moving.  
“I should make you do it yourself,” Papyrus said,” but because I am such an amazing brother I’ll help you!”

Together, the brothers pushed the chair the rest of the way to the decaying wall. It blocked out some of the wind, but there were too many cracks. They eventually gave up, too exhausted to really try. Crawling up onto the odd mattress, Sans and papyrus made a nest of all the blankets they had. Lying down in the pile felt so relaxing. It was so much better than sleeping on the rocky floors of the wet caves.  
Sans finally let out a pent up breath. Today had been more tiring than he wanted to admit. It had been hard keeping his weakness from his energetic brother. As tired as he was, Sans’ eyes refused to close. Papyrus had fallen asleep long ago and still he was up, staring at the ceiling of this strange, abandoned house. 

He was mentally and physically exhausted but he just couldn’t lie still. Careful not to wake Papyrus, Sans slipped out from under the blankets and walked over to one of the cracks.  
The snow was really coming down. Gone was the silent silver. The previously gentle snow fall was now a whirlwind. The wind howled gently through the cracks and the whole house creaked slightly against the storm. Sans’ magic thrummed restlessly along with the sound of the wind. He wanted to run, to do something. Instead, Sans made himself walk over to his brother and crawl under the blankets. It was going to be a long, cold night. The last thing he was going to do was leave his brother defenseless. Not to mention he’d be worried sick if he woke up and Sans wasn’t there. Forcing his eyes shut, Sans searched desperately for sleep, but only found cold and the howling of the snow storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.


	6. Souls are Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

A few weeks passed since the brothers first came to Snowdin. The residents here were often contently quiet. There were never any fights or disputes or any sort of trouble from the monsters of Snowdin. If anything, the people were always kind to each other. From the ever growing shadows, Sans often saw monsters exchange a warm word or two before they retired to their homes for the night and even then, laughter and warm light seeped out of the houses and filled the air with a friendly magic. It was weird… but nice. He had never seen monsters interact this way. The few monsters they saw in the wet caves were more often than not, alone. He had assumed all monsters would be this way, but this tiny town was a like a spark of warmth amidst the cold of the forest.

Still, Sans was doing everything he could to make sure he and Papyrus stayed hidden from the small community. He made sure to cover their tracks if they walked on fresh snow and they never ventured into Snowdin during the day. Despite all of this, the brothers were still spotted on occasion. 

For such a peaceful, little town Snowdin was crawling with royal guardsmen. Most of whom were dogs and they easily picked up on Sans’ and Papyrus’ scent after a couple nights out scavenging for food. They followed them around Snowdin, always trying to corner them. They had even chased after them into the woods multiple times. Sans did whatever it took to keep them from discovering their hide out. He knew the forest pretty well by now so at least he had an advantage once they left Snowdin. 

He ran as fast as could, backtracking and going in circles but more often than not, Sans had to shifted into his beast form in order to outpace the guards. Even with the lingering pain and Papyrus’ extra weight on his back, Sans was much faster on four feet than he was on two. 

Reluctantly, he began to use his other form more and more often. It was useful. In his other form Sans could run faster, knock over bins easier, and even fight better. Luckily Sans hasn’t had to fight anyone yet, but he could still remember those scorch marks he left on the lab walls. Another bonus he had in his quadruped form was the blue warmth he could turn his magic into. It was like using his blaster attack but instead of releasing it, Sans kept it hot and burning in his ribcage. Warmth would seep through his bones and into the nest of blankets, making the night less daunting. 

Doing anything magical in his beast-like form still drained him immensely so he couldn’t keep it going all night. A couple of hours a night were all he could manage before he collapsed with exhaustion. His little brother always fussed over him when this happened. Papyrus insisted he didn’t have to keep doing it, that he was fine and the cold never bothered him, but Sans felt the way he shivered at night. 

Sans constantly worried about the younger skeleton. He was holding up for now but would he stay this way? All he could do to keep Papyrus healthy was to find food and offer what little warmth he could from his soul. They always kept a look out for salvageable clothing while out searching for food but there was never much luck. 

They did however; find a good amount of food. It was better than what they previously found in the wet caves anyway. They had discovered that some bins usually had more food in them than others, like the ones near one of the largest buildings in Snowdin. 

Sans didn’t really know which monsters lived there. All day, monsters went in and out, always retiring to their separate homes. Papyrus guessed it was a big meeting place of some sort but neither of them knew what went on in there. Sans didn’t particularly care one way or another. What interested him were the possible treasures in the bins. 

One night the skeleton brothers were checking their most productive source of food. Sans was in his quadruped form with Papyrus on his back. They still hadn’t found shoes for him so he often carried him around wherever they went. 

Crouching down to let Papyrus off his back, Sans looked around to make sure no one was watching them. If they had any other choice, Sans would have avoided coming here. With monsters constantly coming and going it was a dangerous place to be. That’s why this place was usually their last stop of the night. It seemed as though the later it was, the fewer monsters there were hanging around the area. 

Deeming the place safe, Sans left Papyrus huddled near the wall and crept towards the big metal bins. He leaned back on his two hind legs and gently nudged the bins over, making a loud crash. Sans winced at the racket but there was nothing he could do to be any quieter. Moving to the open end of the container, sans clawed the black, inner bag open, letting the contents spill out onto the snow. 

The older skeleton went through the trash, tossing anything useful in Papyrus’ direction. Sans was so engrossed in his task that he didn’t notice the monster approaching them until he spoke.

“…What are you doing out here young ones?” The monster asked.

Shit! He thought. Sans whirled around in panic to face the stranger. How had someone snuck up on them? Sans cursed himself for not paying more attention. Crouching in a defensive stance, sans took in the new comer’s appearance. 

The monster was tall and made entirely out of fire. His red and orange flames flickered and cast a warm glow on the white snow. Even though he was made of fire the monster’s cloths, a pair of black slacks and vest with a white dress shirt, weren’t burring. The fire monster wore a pair of glasses that reflected his flames, making him impossible to read. The warmth emitting from the monster made Sans notice just how cold he was and shiver. 

Sans growled menacingly and took a wary step backwards, getting between him and his brother and pushing Papyrus back. He kept his eyes on the stranger, watching his every move while he internally screamed at himself for being caught off guard. This was their first real confrontation with another monster and Sans was truthfully at a loss for what to do. The flame monster hadn’t tried to attack them, but he wasn’t running away like others did when they glimpsed him. 

Instead, the stranger stood by the wall, and stared at them almost as intensely as San did him. He felt his magic flare in his eye, adding a bright electric blue and gold light to the red and orange glow on the wall. The monster hardly flinched at the brightness of his magic. 

When neither Sans or Papyrus responded to the fire monster’s words he told them hesitantly, “I’ve got real food inside. If you stay here I can get you something to eat.” 

Sans’ magic flickered a bit in confusion but he still maintained his fighting stance. This stranger was offering them food? It had to be some sort of trick, why would he just give food to a pair of hostile children? Sans just glowered at him and Papyrus, thankful remained silent. He could feel the hunger rolling off his brother in waves. They found just enough scraps to keep going but they were living off the bare minimum. 

The fire monster hesitated a moment longer before retesting back inside the building through the back door. Sans knew that now was the perfect time to leave, but the thought of a warm, cooked meal was almost too good to pass by. A real meal would do Papyrus good, especially since it’s been snowing a lot more recently. 

Before he could make up his mind whether or not to just grab Papyrus and run, the strange monster reappeared with a plate of steaming food. The warm sent of it made Sans’ head go light with hunger but he stayed where he was. Papyrus slowly inched forward to stand next to Sans, a hand on his shoulder blade. Papyrus looked at Sans questioningly. He wouldn’t go near the plate unless his brother said it was safe. Sans himself wanted nothing more than to leap at the food and devour every morsel but his instinctual fear and distrust held him back.

The fire monster didn’t try to approach them; he must’ve seen the hesitation on their faces. He set the plate on the ground a few paces from the door and backed away slowly. Sans stayed where he was, eyes darting between the plate of food and the strange fire monster. It wasn’t worth it, he decided. They were managing just fine without the monster’s help and it was better to be hungry than being captured. Just the thought of being sent back made Sans back up a couple paces, nudging Papyrus with him. 

Sans crouched a little lower and Papyrus saw the invitation to get on. The small skeleton quickly clambered onto his back and before he could blink, Sans was running away into the shadows. He didn’t slow down until they reached Snowdin’s border with the forest. Sighing in relief, Sans let Papyrus off and morphed back into his bipedal form. 

Papyrus was looking at him with a mix of mild confusion and annoyance. “Why did we run away? He was actually giving us food! He was nice and now he won’t help us again because we ran away.”

Sans groaned but replied in an even tone, “Paps, I told you, people can’t be trusted. He could have drugged the food or something or maybe he just wanted to gain our trust so he could capture us. Why would he help us?” Why would anyone help us? He wondered silently. 

“I don’t know” his brother admitted, “but he was helping us. He’s a nice person and I know that for a fact! I checked his soul.”

Sans turned to him in shock. Had he heard him right? “What?” he exclaimed. 

Papyrus shrugged like it was no big deal. “I checked his soul. When he was staring at us, I kind of accidently learned how to read soul stats.”

“And how did you ‘kind of accidently’ do this?” he asked, still in awe of the fact that his brother’s magic has grown so strong. Usually only boss monsters or monsters with years of practice can read someone else’s soul. Even then, it is a violation of privacy and it usually only ever done with the other person’s consent. He wasn’t complaining. Papyrus didn’t know what he was doing but the fact that he could read his soul was a bit unnerving. Even he couldn’t read monster souls.

“Well, the fire monster was so warm but then I realized that it wasn’t just his flames I was feeling, but his soul.” Papyrus said in thought. “I never knew that souls were warm. Anyway, I focused on the warmth I felt in his soul and then I saw it, floating here.” The skeleton gestured to his chest. “It was bright, warm and gave off feelings of kindness.”

“What were his stats?” he asked out of curiosity.

“Oh… yeah.” Papyrus said. He shuffled his feet a bit nervously, “So, uh, I could tell he was kind because of the warmth and feeling of good intentions I got but his stats were actually a little scary.” Papyrus paused before continuing, “He has a lot of LOVE, Sans. His level is so high.”

Sans felt himself tens at the mention of LOVE. The only way he knew monsters gained LOVE was by killing other monsters. Just hearing about it made a shiver run down his spine. But why would a monster with a kind soul have a level high enough to freak his brother out?

“Well, at least we know not to go back there again.” Sans said. Like hell he was going to put his brother and himself in danger. It didn’t matter that the fire monster had a kind soul. He was dangerous, a threat, and if he was truly kind then why had he killed other monsters?

Papyrus looked like he hadn’t made the connection. We’re not? But he was good! He wanted to help us.”

Sans felt his frustrations grow. Why couldn’t Papyrus understand? “It doesn’t matter he could be kind and generous and whatever else! That doesn’t mean he will be all those things to us. We are not like them, Paps, we are different. They see us as specimens. Remember in the labs? They don’t care about us! And what sort of ‘good’ monster has high levels of LOVE?”

“The scientist wasn’t bad!” Papyrus protested. “I know he has feelings, he can’t be soulless. I bet if we just kept trying, we could have made him see his mistakes. Even if he was bad, that doesn’t make every other monster is! I’m not bad, and neither are you!” Papyrus grabbed his brother’s hand and held it tight. “And we are not specimens, Sans.” 

Sans sighed, now he had gotten Papyrus upset. Sans gripped his brother’s hand back and kneeled so he was eye level with him. “I know” he said quietly, “I know, we’re not just experiments, but other monsters may see us like we are, and you’re right. Not all monsters are bad but we can’t tell which ones are and which ones aren’t. We’re just playing it safe. We can’t go back there because the fire monster could hurt us,” 

“He wouldn’t.” Papyrus argued.

Sans relented a little. “It could be an accident. The fire monster may be as kind as his soul shows but we still can’t risk it.” 

Papyrus finally agreed, “I guess not… But we should still check his place. It’s one of our best food spots and sooner or later, we are going to need to trust other monsters. You see how nice everyone is in town. Monsters in groups look after one another.”

“Hey!” Sans exclaimed with mock hurt, “I thought we were a team here! I couldn’t do all this without you, Paps. I need you to watch my back!”

Papyrus giggled and wrapped his arms around the older skeleton’s neck in a hug, “Of course, we’re a team! And I, the great brother that I am, will be there for you!” 

Sans felt a genuine smile spread across his face as he laughed. “And that’s why you may favorite brother.”

“But Sans, I’m you only brother!” Papyrus pointed out.

“Which makes you all the more awesome.” Sans replied, lifting Papyrus into the air. 

He turned in the direction of their small fortress and started heading home. Home. Huh, Sans wondered when he started think of the abandoned shack as theirs. 

The brothers ate a small dinner of the few scraps they had scavenged that night before they went to bed. Sans made sure Papyrus was comfortable before shifting into his beast form and curling up around him. Sans closed his eyes and brew his power forth to warm the pile of blankets that was their bed. The familiar warn soon began to bloom inside his chest and he let out a content sigh. 

He wouldn’t be able to keep it up forever, especially since they had eaten such a meager meal before. Today, it took a little more effort to tap into his reserves of magic and he couldn’t keep his magic up as long as he used to. Sans chalked it down to being tiered and not having a full sized meal that night. He let himself relax and focus on keeping the spark alive in his ribs for as long as he could until exhaustion made him quiet. 

Without his magic warmth, the night was colder than ever. The wing howled loudly through the cracks and blew bits of snow inside. Sans hunched over Papyrus, trying to protect him from the worst of the drafts before he finally gave in to sleep.

That night, he had another nightmare. He dreamt that he was lost in the labs, the hallways twisting and turning in every direction. From somewhere he could hear Papyrus crying out in pain and fear. 

Sans ran through the labs, desperately trying to find him, but whenever he seemed to be getting closer, the hallways would led him in the wrong direction. 

The shadows became darker and Sans heard a voice whisper right next to him, ‘Your too weak… how do you expect to save him when you can’t even save yourself?’

He twisted his head around, trying to see who had spoken, but no one was there. He continued to run through the seemingly infinite halls, look for Papyrus, but the shadowy halls continued to trick and confuse him.

When morning arrived, Sans had never been so relieved. His brother was safe at his side and they were nowhere near the labs. Sans would rather go to hell and back than let Papyrus set foot in there ever again.

Despite Sans concerns about it being dangerous, Papyrus insisted that they check out the fire monster’s bins again that evening. “We don’t need to get to close.” He pleaded, “Just to see if anything’s changed since last night and maybe, if it’s safe, get something to eat?”

Sans let out a huff, “Fine, but you stay beside me and run if I tell you to, ok?’

Papyrus lifted his fists into the air in triumphant, “Yes! I promise, Sans, now stop worrying. I’ll be extra careful.” 

Sans couldn’t help but feel cheered by his brother’s confidence. “I know you will, just makin’ sure.”

The two skeletons stayed in the house, talking and playing games until the crystals began to dim and dusk settled. As they made their way through the trees and the smaller houses of Snowdin, Sans began to get anxious. What if the monster set up traps for them or was waiting for them to return so he could recapture them and turn them over to the royal scientist? Similar bad thoughts and scenarios ran through Sans’ head as he slunk through dark alleyways and abandoned streets. This was a stupid idea he thought. 

When they finally reached the small alley behind the building, Sans was practically, a shaking ball of pent up energy, jumping at every slightest noise. The fire monster must have cleaned up. Garbage strewn from the cans had been picked up and put back into their containers against the walls. The door and windows were all shut and there was no telltale flicker of fire to be seen. There was something though. Lying in the snow near the door was another plate of food. 

Sans tensed up at the sight of it and glanced around nervously. Were they being watched? This had to be a trick. The street was empty and silent, however and there wasn’t a sign of any monsters nearby. Slowly, Sans crept forward, until he was standing directly in front of the plate. He had no idea what kind of food it was, but it smelled delicious. It was even a bit warm. Sans crouched down to let papyrus off his back before shifting to crouch on two legs instead of four. Sans carefully inspected the dish, look for any signs of tampering or danger. It looked as safe as the stuff they found in the bins, except a lot more appetizing.

Papyrus shifted impatiently next to him. “Can we eat it?” he asked. 

It was likely some sort of trick, but Sans was finding it hard to care about anything but the pains of hunger in his nonexistent stomach. They would be carful, they wouldn’t let anyone get close to them or talk to them, but… maybe Papyrus was right. They weren’t going to trust the fire monster, but if he was going to leave food out there for them they might as well take it. It wasn’t much different than raiding the bins.

“Yeah, let’s pack it up; I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to.”

Papyrus immediately perked up. This was great! The younger brother saw this as a good sign. Sans was accepting food from monsters which meant he was starting to warm up to the idea of trusting the people of Snowdin. Maybe they could try talking to the big dogs next time they saw them. 

He quickly took out a rag and spread it out in the snow. Then, Papyrus quickly started moving the food from the plate to the bit of fabric. He was so giddy with excitement. Tonight, they were going to get one of the best meals they’ve had in a long time. 

While Papyrus gathered the food, Sans kept a look out for any approaching monsters. It was completely dark now and eerily silent. He truly wanted nothing more than to just pick up the plate and get out of there as soon as possible but he made himself stay calm. There was no danger and freaking out without a reason would only get Papyrus wired up. 

That didn’t stop him from shifting into four legs and pacing the area impatiently. Papyrus finished quickly and hurriedly got onto his brother’s back. He must have sensed Sans’ agitation. 

Sans set off at a brisk jog and headed straight to the forest. He could have sworn he felt a pair of eyes watching him. Of course that was absurd, the streets were emptied and no one had come out to challenge them. Sans told himself he was just tired and imagining things. Still, he quickened his pace a bit until they reached the cover of the forest. 

The fire monster turned away from the window, once the two children were out of sight. That had been unexpected to say the least. He was pleased to see that they had returned after their first confrontation yesterday but he had not expected to see one of the children shift. Was that even what it was? Never in his long life had Grillby heard of a monster that could change forms. Something like that shouldn’t be possible. Yet it had happened and the other child seemed quite used to seeing it happen as well. Perhaps both of them could do it? It could be a hereditary form of magic, one that was mostly unknown. 

Either way there was more to the kids than met the eye. What were two skeleton-like children even doing out this late at night? Where were their parents? If they had any, they must be worried sick about them, though Grillby got the feeling that the monster children were by themselves. 

Just thinking about them made his soul ach with the urge to help them somehow but they didn’t want it. Honestly, he was surprised they had taken the food this time, let alone return. He would have to be careful with these kids. He would be patient and let them take their time until they were willing to let him help them more. 

Just how he would do that, Grillby wasn’t entirely sure. He’d continue to leave out a plate of food for them but there must be something else. Grillby remembered their torn and ragged clothing. Sur they were skeletons, but it still must be cold at night. Perhaps he would leave out a few blankets as well. Hopefully, the two skeletons will accept them. 

At least he had a vague plan set on how to help them. He wondered if he should tell the royal guard about his encounter with them, but dismissed the idea. He hadn’t told them about last night because he had wanted to see what he was dealing with. Now that he knew that they were a shape shifting children, Grillby was reluctant to tell them. The guards would have to treat them as a threat due to the signs of unusual magic and he didn’t want the kids to get hurt. They were doing what they needed to do to survive and if he was honest with himself, they reminded him of when he was a child.

Even before the war monsters were treated unjustly and sadly, that meant you had to grow up fast or meet the consequences. Grillby’s flames flickered and he felt a cold shudder run through his core. It had been a long time ago but he could still remember the carnage and destruction left from the war. How, when he was old enough, he had taken up a sword and fought to protect those he loved. Little good that had done, he had murdered what hundreds, thousands? And what good had come out of that? Everyone he knew from that time was gone. It was just him now, in the small town of Snowdin. 

He didn’t really mind the isolation that much. If anything, it was the best place for him. The busy streets of the capital in Hotland always made him uncomfortable after the war was over. So much was going on around him and his warrior’s mind just couldn’t handle it. 

It was quiet in Snowdin. The townspeople were generously kind and had opened him with open arms when he moved here. He had opened up a restaurant named after himself and tried to move on with his life. 

It was rare that he found himself thinking of his time on the surface. Grillby forced his thoughts out of his head. That part of his life was over and there was nothing to gain from obsessing about the past. What happened had happened. All he could do now was to try and help those in need and those two children looked like they could use a bit of kindness.

Grillby felt his heart warm in sympathy for the small skeletons. They shouldn’t have to be lonely out in the cold. If only he could help them more. Sighing, Grillby ran his hand through the flames on his head. He had to be patient and wait for the right time. Confronting them again would only scare them away. Tomorrow he would put out another plate of food and some blankets. Then, he’d work his way from there. 

Grillby walked away from the window and prepare for his journey home. He didn’t live far from his restaurant, but it was cold, especially for someone made out of heat and fire. He shrugged on his coat and stepped outside, locking the door behind him. Before he went home thought, Grillby quickly checked for any sign of the two small monsters. 

No evidence remained from their visit. The tracks they had left behind were already blown over and filled with snow. Grilby could easily have imagined the entire thing, had it not been for the empty plate still sitting by the door. The monster leaned down to retrieve it. Tucking it under his arm, Grillby finally turned in the direction of his home and set off; leaving the dark street darker without the presence of is flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.


	7. I Trust You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

After their encounter with the strange fire monster, Sans’ and Papyrus’ lives fell into a sort of routine. During the day, they would hide out in their secluded little house. There wasn’t much to do then except talk or sleep. Neither of them minded it though. It was nice to have the whole day to themselves without the fear of being taken away or separated. 

Every night, the skeleton brothers would go out in search of food. They would loot some bins then make a point to go by the fire monster’s place. The fire monster continued to leave out plates of food for them, occasionally leaving other gifts next to the plate. They were often much needed clothes or blankets. Sans hadn’t wanted to take them at first, but he caved in when they couldn’t find anything wrong or suspicious about them. He helped an over-excited Papyrus carry the neatly folded bundle home where the cloth was tossed onto their pile.

Sans still wondered what the stranger was trying to achieve by giving them these things. There hadn’t been another confrontation since the first one and the monster had made no move to indicate what he wanted. Sans wished the flame monster would just get it over with and name the price already. It wasn’t like they had anything to give in return, but the fire monster must be expecting something. 

Not knowing what it was, made Sans more on edge than he already was but he kept his uncertainties from Papyrus. He really didn’t want to fight over the monster’s intentions again. No matter what he said, his little brother insisted that the fire monster was kind. Whatever he had seen in the monster’s soul had him thoroughly convinced that the stranger was good. 

If the monster was so kind then why did he have so much LOVE? Even Papyrus said it was a frighteningly high level. Kind monsters don’t just go around killing people. Despite his growing fear, the two continued to return to the strange monster’s place again and again. It became clear the flame monster wouldn’t attack them but that did little to sooth Sans’ nerves.

The brothers were on their way to the fire monster’s building when the snow storm hit. It was by far the worst the two brothers had ever seen, let alone been in. The snow was falling so thick and fast it was almost impossible to see where they were going. The wind grew harsh and swept cold blasts of ice and snow into their faces.

Sans and Papyrus were forced to seek shelter. They ran blindly through the storm, Sans holding on to Papyrus’ hand tightly and shielding him from the worst of the sudden wind. They ran to the nearest alley and hide behind a couple of crates.

It was so cold. The snow just kept coming and their ‘shelter’ was doing little to block out the blizzard. He kept Papyrus in front of him, using himself as a shield to protect his brother from the worst of the downfall. 

Papyrus was curled against Sans’ chest, huddling away from the wind. He was trying to look unaffected by the cold, but Sans felt every rattling shiver that ran through his bones. Without thinking, Sans ripped off the blankets from around his shoulders and wrapped them tightly around his brother. 

Papyrus looked up at Sans, “N-n-no” he stuttered trying to give them back, “Y-You n-need th-th-these too.”

Sans rewrapped the blankets and tightened his grip on Papyrus, “I’ll be fine, Paps” He said, refusing to let his voice break from the cold, “I can handle this. I’m more worried about you.” Without the protection of the blankets, Sans now only wore a thin sweater and pants. His hated, metal collar was also visible now. 

Once they had settled down, Sans had tried to get Papyrus to cut it off with his bone magic. His brother hadn’t been confident enough to go too close to Sans’ neck, but he chopped off most of the long chain. Sans hid the tiny bit that was left under his clothes and pretend it wasn’t there. Sometimes Papyrus would try to come up with some ways to get the rest of it off, but nothing ever worked. 

The sight of it freaked him out a little. It was a reminder that he was a thing to someone, that he was owned. 

He was really starting to feel the effects of the storm but he couldn’t bring himself to care. All that mattered was that Papyrus was safe. If he was fine then Sans would be too 

Papyrus was too cold to put up much of an argument and snuggled closer to Sans. The smaller skeleton was still chilled and things didn’t improve as the night wore on. Soon, both brothers were shivering violently against the cold. Sans had long since stopped feeling the cold, but his body reacted to it anyway. 

How long has it been? Hours? Days? Months? Time was at a standstill. Every second ticked by in slow cruelty. We aren’t going to survive this Sans thought with only a small amount of panic. The constant cold was leeching out their life sustaining magic, making the brothers sleepy and slow. It was almost nice how everything was going numb, even Sans’ mind was slowing down. His overwhelming whirlwind of thoughts died down to a calm breeze. It would be so nice to just sleep. He could feel his weariness pulling down on his mind, urging him to slip into darkness. When was the last time he had gotten a full night’s rest? 

Papyrus suddenly shifted against him, burying his face in Sans’ sweater, and all of Sans thoughts of giving up flew out the window. His brother still needed him and like hell he was going to let him down now. 

Sans quickly shifted, his frozen bones creaking in protest at the sudden transformation. His new ridges and points tore holes in his clothes but he hardly noticed. Gathering Papyrus close to him again, he curled around him protectively and activated his magic. His soul flickered at the summoning and a warm, blue flame edged with gold formed in his chest. The flames showed through his tattered sweater, illuminating their little hide out just enough to see Papyrus. The bright blue cast a shallow glow over papyrus’ skull. He wasn’t moving but he was definitely still conscious. 

Sans buried his muzzle into his brother’s neck, trying to keep him focused. His magic fire seemed to be helping. Paps wiggled around a bit more before settling into a more comfortable position with a sigh. 

Sans was relieved slightly at the movement. If he could keep this up, Papyrus would be fine. He light up his eye to get better bearings of the weather. It was still coming down fast with no sign of stopping. 

Shit… He knew he couldn’t keep this up forever. Sooner or later, his already unstable magic was going to crumble and then he’d be unable to produce his soul fire. Sans gritted his teeth as he summoned every ounce of Determination he had into his light. Like I am going to let that happen. He would literally do anything for Papyrus. Nothing would stop him from protecting him and the cold was no acceptation. 

Sans burned longer than he had ever done before, lasting until the wind quieted down. It was still snowing, but without the wind blowing it in their faces, it wasn’t nearly as cold. Sans let his magic slip through his grip as he forced himself to shift back into his humanoid form. He could feel himself start to lose consciousness. God he was so tired. 

He just needed to rest his eyes a bit before they got out of there. Just a few minutes, he promised himself. Just a couple then we’ll leave. Sans finally closed his eyes and became oblivious to the world. 

It felt like he had hardly blinked before he felt someone shaking him awake. He wearily cracked an eye open to see Papyrus leaning over him. It was almost completely silent and the snow had finally stopped coming. 

“Sans! Wake up Sans! Are you alright?” asked his little brother. 

 

Sans heard Papyrus but his voice was like a distorted echo in his skull. The sound gave him a headache.

“Y-Yeah bro, I-I’m great.” He forced himself to sit up but moving made his head hurt more. Sans cringed, and clutched his head, waiting for the nausea to pass. Papyrus knelt in front of him, a worried frown on his normally smiling face. 

“You do not look great.” He argued.

Sans chuckled at that. “No, that’s because you are.” 

“Ugh… That was horrible, yet true.” Papyrus said with a hint of a smile. Though he hated his brother’s jokes, it was reassuring to hear them. If he was able to fool around, then he couldn’t be that sick.

Sans staggered up onto his feet and leaned against the wall of the alleyway, “Heh, don’t worry about me Paps, Ok? Let’s just go home.” Hopefully this dizziness would pass soon. He moved to pick up Papyrus but his brother refused.

“I can walk, Sans.” He didn’t want to be a burden for him, even though he insisted he was fine.

Sans mind was too muddled to insist so he settled on taking Papyrus’ hand and stumbled out of the alley they had been hiding in. The snow out here was just past his knees and almost up to Papyrus’ waist. Papyrus tried to keep up, but every step was a slow struggle. Sans was forced to carry him after all, despite Papyrus’ protests. 

Sans tried to focus on where they were going. Where were they again? Everything was beginning to blur together for him. Sans had no idea if they were even heading in the right direction or not. It was dark out but they had no idea how much longer it would stay this way. Both of them had completely lost track of time. For all the brothers knew this could have been the same night, or the next one. 

Sans stumbled through the snow until he came upon the fire monster’s building. Crap, he thought. He had gone in the completely wrong direction. Even worse, the cavernous ceiling above their heads was beginning to lighten, hinting at the coming morning. The best they could hope for now was a safe place to hide. They’d never make it out of Snowdin before monsters began to emerge from their houses. 

Sans carefully put Papyrus down and slumped against the brick wall of the building. He was still struggling to focus and despite the snow stopping, he couldn’t stop shaking. A fresh wave of dizziness hit him and Sans couldn’t suppress the whimper that escaped him.

 

Grillby had woken up early, like he did every day to go prepare for the opening of his restaurant. He took pride in running a welcoming and respectable establishment which was open seven days a week. The only exception he made to this had been yesterday. The snow storm had started some point in the night and had lasted all day, the sky staying dark as if it were night. The blizzard had only just stopped and it was still unlikely that many monsters would be out and about yet. They would most likely be shoveling out their homes and clearing out the town square before retreating to their homes to escape the cold. 

Grillby was worried how the two skeleton children had faired during the snow storm. He hoped they had a decent enough shelter to protect them from the cold. It was too cold for them to be out at night, let alone in a storm.

He was about to unlock the front door of his restaurant, the crystals only just beginning to brighten when he heard a noise coming from behind the building. Grillby paused, the keys to the building half way to the door. Was someone out here? Curious, he stuffed the keys back into his coat pocket and rounded the side of his restaurant. 

Turning the corner, Grillby froze in surprise. It was the two skeleton brothers. His first thought was that they were out in the day time for once. The second was that something was definitely wrong. The older one was leaning again the building, clutching his head and breathing heavily. He seemed to be in a lot of pain. The smaller child was standing next to him with a worried expression on his face. 

They must have heard him approach because both children jumped and turned towards him, the sick one doing so a little unsteadily. 

Sans was snapped out of his thoughts bay a sharp intake of breath from nearby. He turned his head so fast, his vision swam and he stumbled a bit as he pushed himself of the wall. Shit, I keep messing up don’t I? 

There was no way they could run away, not with his condition and all the snow on the ground. He moved in front of Papyrus and shifted, which wasn’t a good idea. Sans barely had the strength to complete the transformation and it hurt so much worse than it should have. Sans whimpered and swayed but managed to stay standing. 

Papyrus was by his side in an instant, raping his arms around his neck. “Sans.” He said. Both warning him to stop and worrying he would hurt himself.

“Calm down.” The monster pleaded, “Don’t be afraid, I want to help you.” The fire monster raised his hands in a sign of peace and taking a small step forward. 

Sans made a noise caught between a moan and a growl. Scraping together his magic, he forced what little energy he had left into an attack. It was too much, he realized. As he released his magic blast, Sans felt his legs give out beneath. He vaguely glimpsed the monster dogging the attack before he collapsed. Papyrus was saying something to him, but he was too tired to understand him. His vision was going blurry around the edges and was he was threatening to pass out.

 

Grillby avoided the blast of blue-white energy just in time. It was a weak attack and faded into the air a few feet past him. It still was a surprisingly powerful attack for such a young and unwell monster and would have done significant damage. The attack seemed to take the last of the skeleton’s strength and he collapsed. 

The younger skeleton was shaking him, trying to make his get up. “Sans. Sans! Get up y-you lazy bones!” He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. 

Grillby felt his soul break at the despair in the child’s voice. Slowly, he approached them again.

“I can help him.” he said, “and you too, if you’ll let me.”

The child jumped a bit at the sound of his voice, like he had already forgotten he was there. He looked torn. The young monster glanced between him, his brother, and the street behind him like he was thinking of running. 

Grillby tried again, “Please I promise no harm will come to either of you. I just want to help.”

The child’s shifting eyes finally fixed themselves on him. “You promise?” He asked, his voice hardly than a whisper.

Grillby nodded his head gently, not wanting to spook the boy with any sudden movements. “Yes I promise.”

The small skeleton sat there cradling his brother’s head in his arms. “Why? Why help us?” He asked suddenly. 

The fire monster was a bit taken back by the bluntness of the question. Wasn’t it obvious? Grillby answered with an equally blunt response, “Because the two of you need it and I can’t not help monsters in need.”

To Grillby’s surprise the child nodded, like he already expected the answer. “I trust you.” He said simply.

He took this as permission to come closer so he did and knelt down next to the two skeletons, still with a little distance between them so the child wouldn’t feel as nervous. He looked down on the skeleton his brother had called Sans. He was panting shallow breaths and his left eye was flashing a frantic blue and yellow. 

He placed his arms next to the sick child, “May I?’ he asked looking at the other child for confirmation.

The boy nodded so, carefully, Grillby scooped his brother into his arms and stood up. His bones were unnaturally warm with a fever and he didn’t respond to being picked up.

“Is it alright with you if we all go inside?” he gestured to the door with a tilt of his head. “I can take care of your brother better in there and I can get you something to eat.”

The young skeleton’s eyes lit up at the mention of food. He nodded again and stood up as well. Grillby led the way to the door, carefully holding Sans against his chest with one arm as he dug out his keys and unlocked the door. He pushed it open with his shoulder and held it to let the child in. The skeletal child only hesitated for a moment before entering. 

“My name’s Papyrus.” He said as he followed him inside.

Grillby smiled down at the child, “Hello Papyrus, you can call me Grillby.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.


	8. Gestures of Kindness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok. Summaries aren't really my thing but here it goes.
> 
> Sans and Papyrus, or should I say S-1 and P-2 have grown up their entire lives in the labs. They have been abused and mistreated with only each other to hold on to. They never had the hopes of escaping until Gaster bit off a bit more than he could chew with a certain experiment. Now they are traveling through the underground in hopes of outrunning the scientist. All they want is a safe place they can call home and that may just be possible when a certain bright flame ends up taking them under is wing. Things never run as smoothly as we all would like though.

Grillby flipped on a light switch and the lights turned on, illuminating the small lounge that was in the back of the bar. The decorations were a bit lacking as he wasn’t one with expensive tastes or care for finery. He preferred a much more simplistic style. There was an old sofa against the wall with a wooden coffee table in front of it. There were cupboards and shelves filled with a variety of books that Grillby had either bought or been given to by regulars at his resturant. The floor was made dark oak wood, like the rest of his restaurant, and the walls were painted a warm red. 

The fire monster walked over to the couch and gently lay Sans down. He grabbed a few spare blankets from a drawer and laid them on him before turning to check on the other child. 

Papyrus was edging slowly into the room. The toddler looked as though he had never set foot inside a building before and every sight was strange to him. Seeing Sans on the couch however, Papyrus seemed to put his curiosity and unease aside and ran over to him. He clambered a little awkwardly up onto the couch and clung to his brother. 

Grillby watched them before he was sure that neither of them would be going anywhere before he walked through the rest of the bar, turning on lights as he went, to go make something for them in the kitchen. It would have to be something simple and quick so Grillby decided on making soup. He doubted either of them would be able to stomach much else, given the fact that they looked like they hadn’t eaten in days. It could have been his imagination or just the fact that the boy was sick, but Grillby was sure that Sans was worse off than his brother. His bones were frighteningly thin and brittle. After throwing some ingredient into a pot and setting it to cook over a flame of his own creation, Grillby looked through the storage rooms for some medicine and dry cloths. 

He didn’t have that big of a house so the restaurant also doubled as a storage unit for him. Grillby liked to keep his place tidy and hospitable, like his bar, so he kept his spare rooms well-kept. He kept all of his old things that still had some worth here instead. The fire monster had never before been so thankful for this decision in his life, and he found plenty of his old cloths that he could lend the children. They’d be comically large on them, but they were an improvement to their current cold and snow sodden clothes. He’d have find them better clothing later. 

Getting medicine was a bigger issue. He couldn’t find any in the restaurant and he most certainly couldn’t leave them to go out and get some. He didn’t even know what to get for them.

It was painfully obvious to the fire monster that he was out of his league here. He was decent with healing basic physical wounds but sickness was a different thing entirely. Being sick was like being wounded in the soul and despite being older than his appearance suggests, he had little to no experience in that area of healing. 

With the clothes in tow, Grillby went back to the kitchen and poured two bowls of the now hot soup and set them on a tray. He grabbed two spoons from the drawer and put them on the tray as well. Balancing the soup on one hand, and the clothes in the other, he returned to where he left the skeletons, relieved to find them in almost the exact same position he left them in. Papyrus looked like he had been dosing next to Sans but he sat up alert when Grillby entered the room. 

“I made some you some soup.” He said setting the tray down on the coffee table. He put the clothes down as well and stepped closer to have a better look at Sans. He was completely out cold. Grillby would have said he looked peaceful if it were not for his flickering blue eye and shallow breath. 

When Grillby moved closer, the younger skeleton tensed up slightly and inched backwards on the couch. Papyrus may have let him bring them inside but it was clear to see he was uncomfortable around him. He quickly noticed the boy's discomfort, and inched back a bit to give the children more space. He nodded his head in the direction of the soup. “I made something for you to eat and there’s a change of clothes for you too. I’m sorry that they are a bit big for you but it’s all I have at the moment.”

Papyrus looked to the soup then to the folded clothes. “Thank you.” he mumbled quietly, smiling tentatively to show his gratitude. Normally he would have wondered why the elemental would apologize for giving him things, and why he was being offered them to begin with but the smell of an actual meal, a hot one at that, had captivated most of his attention. Slowly, he edged closer to where the soup was on the table and reached for a bowl, forgoing the spoon sitting next to it and simply drinking it straight from the bowl. 

Grillby was surprised by this but didn’t know why. It’s not like they had time for manners he reasoned. 

While Papyrus ate, Grillby edged closer to the coach again and turned his attention to Sans. He gently removed the blankets from the sleeping skeleton and was reaching for his arm but stopped when he caught sight of something peeking out from under the collar of his shirt. Curious, Grillby reached over and moved the shirt down slightly to see what it was and almost lost control of his flames. Was that a metal collar around his neck? Grillby quickly repressed his growing flames and glanced at the smaller skeleton, worriedly. He was still enthusiastically eating his soup and thankfully hadn’t noticed his sudden loss of control, or his approach at all for that matter. 

He looked back at the collar with a frown. It looked like there had been more to the metal chain, but it had been cut off somehow. Without a doubt that thing was coming off as soon as possible. Why would a child even have something like that in the first place? 

His horror only grew when he pulled the boy’s arm out of its sleeve. His arm was covered in various fractures and scares. Fresh wounds overlapped older ones until there was no place left unmarked save for his lower radius. The fact that the bone was unmarked there drew it to Grillby’s attention. Turning Sans’ marred arm over, he discovered why. Just above his wrist, there was a barcode etched into his arm. 

WDG Ex S-1 

Grillby only realized he was shaking when his suddenly clumsy fingers dropped Sans’ arm onto the child's own lap. Numbing shock and searing anger were warring over his mind. His flames were becoming chaotic, losing breaking free of their controlled form and becoming more natural. It was all he could do to calming stand up and make his way to the back door. He needed to get out of there right now or he would burn something. 

Grillby welcomed the cold as he stepped out into the chilly alley behind his restaurant. Once sure that no one was in sight, Grillby allowed his fire to burn unsupervised, sizzling and expanding until he had melted a large whole in the thick snow around him and even then, he had to curb his anger so he didn't catch fire to any of the nearby buildings. 

Forcing himself to take steady breaths, he pulled in his flames, along with his raging emotions. When her finally got his hate and anger leashed, all Grillby could really feel was a resigned numbness in his soul. Why would a monster, a child, have that carved into their bodies? The chain and the scars… Grillby had no doubt there were more of them on the rest of Sans’ body. And Papyrus; did he have scares too? He almost didn’t want to know. 

Grillby sighed in frustration and held his head in his hands. He had no choice but to inform the royal guard of the children and he definitely needed to get a doctor to come over. 

Once he was sure he wouldn’t lose control again, Grillby went back inside and quickly finished changing the sick child into the clothes. Just like he had guessed, the rest of Sans’ body was just as scarred as his arm. It truly sickened him to think what the child must have gone through to accumulate such a horrifying collection of injuries. 

While he had been out, Papyrus had finished the rest of his soup and had changed into the clothes he had left out for him. Now that he had a full stomach and was warm, the child finally seemed to be relaxing. The small skeleton was curled up next to his brother, his back pressed against Sans’ in a natural position, like they slept like this every night.

Grillby grabbed another blanket and gently laid it on the brothers before clearing away both of the bowls on the table. He didn’t want to wake Sans up when the boy really needed the rest so he decided to just save the soup for later. 

He went back to the kitchen and poured the soup back into the pot before grabbing a pair of thick rubber gloves to do the dishes. As a fire elemental, it would not be pleasant getting wet. 

While washing the dishes, Grillby pondered his next move. He’d have to take them home at some point but people had finally started digging out the streets now that it was lighter outside. He’d have to wait until evening to move them without drawing to much attention. Until then, Grillby had a few calls he had to make.

Shutting off the water, Grillby carefully removed the gloves and went to the front of the bar where he kept a phone for public use. 

Despite his early hesitations, he had no choice but to call the royal guard, not after what he had seen. He picked up the phone, dialed in a number, and waited. 

On the third or fourth ring someone picked up on the other end. “Can I help you?” asked a gruff and bored voice from the other end. 

“Hello, this is Grillby Serif yes you can. I need to speak with Captain Quinn Sinclair please. I have some urgent information for him and I’m afraid it can’t wait.” 

“Really.” the voice said sounding vaguely interested now. “Alright wait a minute.” There was a click and the phone went silent save for the occasional shuffling on the other end.

He didn’t have to wait long before a different voice greeted him. “Grillby! How’re you? You holdin’ up after that big snow storm? I swear by the angle that I haven’t seen one this bad in a decade.”

Grillby felt himself smile slightly at the captain’s warm greeting and chatter. “Hello Captain” he replied. “I’m fine. I didn’t open up my restaurant yesterday and just stayed in. I can’t even remember the last time I didn’t open because of the weather.” He said thinking back. It was true. He had run Grillby’s for decades now and not once could he remember not opening for an entire day. He had poured all of his time and energy into the place since he had first opened it. He rarely ever kept it closed. The place was his life and pride.

“I’m also not going to be opening up today either.” He said with a twig of regret. He hated keeping his restaurant closed but there was no way he could open while looking after two children. 

The captain let out a loud bark of laughter, “Son, how many times have I got to tell ya’? Just call me Quinn. Captain is way too formal for my likin’ and why are you still closed? With everyone out shoveling away this snowy mess, you should be getting’ plenty of customers.”

Though Grillby was sure he was around the same age, if not older, than the captain, he didn’t mind being called son. Captain Quinn had a kind, fatherly personality that he exhibited towards all monsters, despite their age. It also helped that the captain was one of the oldest, most respected, and experienced monsters in the royal guard. 

The old dog had plenty of time left to serve in the guard, but he was reaching the end of his years. Grillby was sure Quinn was getting close to retirement but the stubborn captain always laughed off his age saying he felt as young and fresh as any seasoned guard dog. Grillby himself was a couple centuries old, but fire elementals tended to live longer lives than most monsters. 

Grillby forced his thoughts back on the subject at hand. “Well… I guess it has to do with what I have to tell you.” 

“Oh? I thought you said you were fine.” Quinn accused. “Is this like last time? Those kid thought it’d be funny to see you wet. I swear if somethin’ like that’s happened again, I’ll… I’ll…” Quinn let the threat trail off his anger too much for words apparently.

How could he still remember that? It had been one of the few incidents he had when he first moved here. Some town kids thought it would be fun to see what would happen if they dumped a bucket of water on a fire elemental. To Grillby, water was like acid. Small amounts are bearable, but larger amounts, like a big bucket full, can cause a lot of damage. It was a miracle that his face hadn’t scarred. 

Of course the children hadn’t known any better and Grillby couldn’t blame them for being curious. There weren’t many elementals around, let alone fire elementals. There weren’t that many left by the time the humans had trapped them underground and those that survived the war kept to themselves. Besides, he had faced much worse than a little water. 

Grillby wasn’t one to make a problem out of nothing but Quinn, just being appointed captain of the royal guard, wouldn’t let this stand. He insisted on him filling out a report and had even gone so far as to make sure his water burns were properly taken care of. Most of the residents had been kind and hospitable to him but this was one of the first true gestures of kindness he had received in a long time. 

Quinn had insisted of staying in contact in case something like that ever happened again and to this day, they had. 

“I am perfectly fine, Cap- Quinn.” Grillby insisted. “Nothing like that has happened in years and you’d be one of the first to know if it did.”

“Then what’s happened that’s so important that you would stay closed on a fine business day? I know you, Grillby. You’ve been pouring your soul into that restaurant for as long as I can remember. You’re always open unless there is an emergency or you physically can’t.”

Grillby sighed and leaned against the wall next to the phone. “A lot has happened this morning, Quinn.”

He could practically see the old captain reclining in his chair behind his desk. “Well then let’s hear it son, I’m listening.”

Now that it was time to tell him, Grillby found he didn’t know where to start. How do you explain the fact that you’ve found the monsters that have been raiding everyone’s trash cans only to find out that they are two homeless children with obvious signs of abuse? Never mind the fact that one of them had unusual and potentially dangerous magic.

His silence must have conveyed his nerves because Quinn let out a soft sigh. “Start at the beginning son.” The captain suggested. 

“I guess it started a couple of weeks ago.” Grillby began. “My trash can were being raided more often than anyone else’s, probably because the scraps of food attracted them.”

“Them?” the captain inquired.

“Yes, them.” He confirmed. “I was closing up late one night when I heard noises coming from behind the building. When I went to investigate, I found two skeletal children going through the trash. They both ran away when I offered them some real food but I tried again the next night and they took it. It continued like that for about two weeks or so until the blizzard hit. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about them, but I was afraid if you and the guards showed up, they wouldn’t come back.”

“It’s alright I suppose.” He said but Grillby could easily tell that he wasn’t too happy being left out on the situation for so long. “But if something like this ever happens again, I want ya’ to tell me. I may be old, but I’m still captain of the royal guard. So, what happened next?”

Grillby was relieved when Quinn let him off the hook so easily. Despite his all his fatherly kindness, he took his job very seriously. “As you already know, I stayed home yesterday because of the storm. I had hoped the children would find decent shelter during the storm, but when I came to open up my restaurant this morning. I found them in the alley behind the building.”

He rubbed his temples in frustration. “Both are half starved, and the older child is really sick.”

“They must’ve been out there during the blizzard the entire night. Who in their right minds would leave two children out alone a in the middle of a snowstorm?” the captain asked angrily. 

“I don’t know but that isn’t even the worst of it.” Grillby replied. “I was changing Sans, that’s the older child’s name, into some dry clothes and… God, Quinn there are scares all over the boy’s body. He even had a chain around his neck and some kind of bar code engraved into his left arm.”

“By the angle” he swore. “Have they told you who did this to them?”

Grillby shook his head then remembered the captain couldn’t see it. “No Sans is passed out and his brother, Papyrus, hasn’t spoken to me much. They’re afraid of me and I guess they have every right to be. They don’t know me and whatever happened to them was bad.”

He heard some movement from the other end of the connection and the quick scribbling of pen on paper. 

“There hasn’t been a case of child abuse in years…” The captain mumbled to himself. “We can’t treat this like a usual investigation. Goin’ around and asking about two skeleton children would just draw unwanted attention. Best if we kept this quiet for now. I’ll tell Fetch and Julia to keep their noses out for anything out of the ordinary. Lily is still on leave with her puppies so we’re stretched a little thin as it is… Dammit! In all my years as captain, I’ve never had to deal with twisted sickos who think it’s alright to treat kids this way!”

“I don’t think anyone has.” Grillby said quietly. 

It was true. Monsters were made out of kindness and magic. It was why the underground was so peaceful, despite it being a cage meant to be their death beds. Their natural kindness made it near impossible for a soul to become truly corrupted like a human’s. Grillby supposed this was the one perk to being banished from the surface, though it was an optimistic stretch. 

“Well then I’m the lucky guy who gets to be the first.” He said angrily then let out a huff of frustration. “What am I going to do Grillby? It’s been years since I’ve had to deal with anything worse than a drunken brawl. Now suddenly, I’ve gotta’ go searching for some abusive mad man.”

There was silence from the phone and Grillby imagined the captain leaning over his desk, holding his head in his hands. He wished he could comfort his old friend but the words died in his throat before he could voice them. 

“Grillby, I know I’m about to ask a lot of ya’ but do you think you could take care of the kids until all of this is sorted out? It wouldn’t be permanent,” he said quickly, “just until we catch this bastard and find a proper home for them.”

His flames flickered a pale yellow. “Quinn, I don’t know the first thing about caring for a child, let alone two traumatized ones.” he protested. Just thinking about being responsible for the safety of skeletal children made him panic. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve never taken care of a child before and I don’t even have anything to care for them with. They don’t even trust me…” He let his voice trail off in thought. He was hardly qualified to be responsible for children, for so many reasons.

“I know I know, you’d be doing me a huge favor but what do you mean they don’t trust you? They let you take them inside didn’t they? And you’re the only person that even spoken to them. How’d you think they would handle being taken in by someone they haven’t even met?”

“Please,” Quinn begged “I’ll help out in any way I can. You just say the word and I’ll send someone over with whatever you need to take care of them.”

“I won’t deny them my help,” Grillby said slowly, “but I can’t help but feel that I’ll mess up somehow.”

“What’r you worried about? All they need is food, shelter, and a place they can feel safe. Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’.”

“… I guess” Grillby agreed but still felt skeptical about the whole situation. 

If it made Quinn’s job easier for him then he couldn’t say no. Still, the captain hadn’t seen the fear in their eyes when he first found them. He was sure he could meet their physical needs; that was not what worried him. It took kindness, loving support, and time to get over a traumatic event and he wasn’t sure he could give them these things when they didn’t even trust him. His weak attempts to help them didn’t make them any less hostile this morning. Papyrus had let him take them inside, but he was a toddler and didn’t know what else to do without his older sibling to guide him. 

How was he supposed to even begin trying to help them? He didn’t even know what was done to the poor children. Were there certain things he should know about their condition? What if they had a flashback and started hyperventilating over something random? 

“I’ll try, but I still don’t trust myself with the responsibility of taking care of them alone. There’s also something else you should probably know about the kids, for the case.”

“Well now I’m curious what is it?”

“I don’t know how to explain it but I’ve seen Sans… transform.”

Quinn’s frown could be heard in his voice. “What do you mean ‘transform’ son?

“The first time I saw the skeleton children, Papyrus looked like a normal, humanly shaped skeleton but his brother was more… feline shaped. When they came around again, I saw Sans shift from standing on four legs to two then back to four again. I haven’t seen Papyrus change, I’m not sure he can, but I have never even heard of a monster that could shape-shift like Sans can.” 

“Hmm…” Quinn was quiet for a moment. “Neither have I. Does it look like it hurts him when he changes?”

“It definitely sounds painful.” Grillby shuddered as he remembered the sound of crackling bones and whimpers. “It certainly took a toll on Sans when he shifted this morning but he’s sick and magic deprived. I’m not sure if that made it worse or not.”

The captain let out a sigh. “This is gonna make it hard for a doctor to check them out. I don’t know anything about shape shifter magic but I assume it makes them difficult to heal. Speaking of which, have you called one up yet? If they’re as bad as you say it is then they better get checked out. I also want a diagnosis of the young’uns to use as evidence in the case.”

“I was just going to call one.” replied Grillby, feeling a bit relieved that the captain didn’t seem too bothered by Sans unique magic. “There’s a good healer here in Snowdin; she’s great with kids.”

Joessey Mason was a wonderful, talented rabbit monster who lived with her sister in their house attached to Snowdin’s one and only inn. She wasn’t really a doctor because she never got a degree at the U.C., the Underground Collage, (they really had the best names down here) but she was just as skilled, if not better at healing magic as any other doctor he knew. 

“Are you sure we can trust her?” Quinn asked. “I know some doctors who can keep quiet about this if I tell them to and we can’t have anyone spreadin’ the word about two abused, shape shiftin’ skeletons. This case is getting weirder and weirder. We can’t risk this leaking out to the public.”

“We can.” Grillby reassured him. “Besides, we need someone who is good with kids and I’ve known Jose for years. She’s one of the kindest monsters in the Underground. She’ll keep quiet once she understands the situation.”

“Fine, I trust your judgment, son. If you say she’s trustworthy, then I’ll believe that she is. Now I gotta finish writing this case file, call me if you need anything, you hear?”

“Yes sir.” He said, and then a thought occurred to him. “Quinn, do you think you could tell me if you discover any leads on the case?”

He didn’t understand why, but Grillby felt like he had to know what had happened to the two skeletons. The urge went beyond plain curiosity, though that was definitely a part of it. He felt a burning sensation in his chest that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Grillby hadn’t felt truly angry in years. He was mad or a little annoyed from time to time, but Grillby had almost forgotten what the sensation of fury coiling around your soul felt like. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t care enough to get angry, as some people interpreted his calm and cool countenance. It was just that he had experience too much hardship to get riled up over the trivial conflicts others did. 

Snowdin was mostly calm and uneventful, but there were always those few monsters who craved a little adventure and drama in their lives. They weren’t exactly hostile, but they did like to cause a commotion, and snatched up every piece of gossip they could get their hands on. Thinking about people who didn’t consider others before opening their mouths was one of the few things that really got to him. He really saw no point in making big deals out of things that couldn’t be fixed. It was easier to just accept what was given to you and carry on and it frustrated Grillby that monsters refused to make things easier for everyone on purpose.

Still, his annoyance for monsters like this was nothing compared to the inferno of hatred Grillby felt when he thought of the person who did hurt the two boys. 

“Of course, son.” exclaimed the captain. “But I doubt we’ll learn much until we get a chance to interview the kids. They’re the only leads we have.”

“You’re not coming over to talk to them now are you?” he asked in mild alarm. Sans and Papyrus were in no condition to be asked questions. 

“No, no” Quinn said hurriedly. “They gotta be checked out first and the kids definitely need time to adjust. Maybe in a week or so we can do a formal questioning but until then, try to see what you can find out without askin’ any direct questions.”

“I doubt they would want to talk but I’ll try.” Grillby promised.

“Thanks Grillby, you are really saving my neck here by doin’ this.” 

Grillby let out a low chuckle, “Well you have certainly saved mine more than once. It’s about time I return the favor.”

Quinn joined in the laughter, “You don’t owe me nothin’ and don’t forget that you’ve got the whole royal guard ready to lend you a hand, claw, or paw so don’t hesitate to call me for anything. I’m already gonna’ send’ Fetch, Alex, and Big Dog over to your place with some stuff for them kids so you should be set for a while.”

“Thank you Quinn.” The old captain’s support made him felt that, maybe, he could really do this.

Saying his good byes to the captain of the royal guard, Grillby ended the call and immediately started phoning Jossey.

He only had to wait two rings before she answered. “Hello?”

“Hello Jossey, its Grillby.”

“Oh Grillby!” she exclaimed. “How are you? It’s been too long since you came by to visit me.”

“Sorry,” Grillby apologized, actually regretting not stopping by. “I’ve just been busy lately, running the restaurant.”

“Of course you have.” She said with a laugh. “I hope you’ve been taking care of yourself, Grillby. 

“Now you’re starting to sound like Quinn.” He said teasingly, keeping the mood light. “What do you two think will happen to me? I feel like both of you think I can’t take care of myself.”

Why was everyone worried? Grillby admitted that maybe he did work a bit too much, but they saw him often enough to know he was fine. He felt bad for not making more of an effort to meet up with his friends but to be perfectly honest, he preferred solitude over company. 

“Well, all you ever seem to do is work.” Jossey admitted. “I’m kind of worried about you, Grillby. It’s not good to be alone all of the time.”

“I’m not alone; I have a restaurant full of people every night.”

“You know what I mean.” She said, annoyance slowly creeping into her voice.

“If it pleases you to know, I won’t be ‘alone’ after this morning.” He said trying to distract her from the growing debate. 

“What do you mean?”

“This was part of the reason I called you. Remember when I told you my trash bins were always being raided?”

“Yes” she answered cautiously. 

Better to just get this over with he thought tiredly. “Well, the culprits turned out to be a pair of skeletal monster children and Quinn wants me to look after them until he can find them a proper home.”

“Oh that’s wonderful news I know you’ll do great with them, Grillby!” Jossey exclaimed. 

Grillby winced at her excitement. “It isn’t like that Jossey. Both of the boys are in pretty bad shape. Both of them are starved and weak and there are signs of abuse on at least one of them.”

Jossey let out a gasp of shock. “Goodness! How bad is it?” 

“From what I’ve seen, it’s bad. There are cracks and fractures all over Sans, he’s the older of the two, and he has a code drilled into his arm. He’s also really sick and I don’t have any medicine that can help him. Papyrus doesn’t seem so bad but I haven’t gotten to check him injuries yet.”

“You’d better check soon. When can I come over?” she asked. There were sounds of movement from Jossey’s end and Grillby knew she was already preparing for the trip despite not being given an answer yet.

“Not now but could you come over to my place tonight? I don’t want to leave the bar until people start to go home.” 

“I could just come over there you know. I’m sure the streets are almost cleared, with almost everyone out shoveling.”

“That would be better, but we can’t let anyone know about what is going on. The boys are part of a private investigation. Quinn thinks it’s best to draw as little attention as possible to the children, which means that they shouldn’t be seen in public quite yet. We don’t know who did this to them or why and we can’t risk them being discovered by their abusers.” 

Jossey let out a long sigh, “I guess that is for the best,” she admitted, “but now all I can think about is those poor children! Tell me more about their conditions. Is Sans running a fever? Have they eaten anything?”

“Sans seems to be unnaturally warm but that could have been from his recent overuse of magic. I gave Papyrus some soup but Sans was out cold and I didn’t want to wake up the poor boy. I saved his food for when he wakes up.”

“That’s good you did the right thing by letting him sleep. If he has spent most of his magic, then rest is one of the best things for him right now. Is there anything else I should know about them?” she inquired. 

“Yes. “Grillby answered. “I don’t know if you have heard of this before, Quinn and I never had, but I’ve been seeing Sans shape shift. Does that affect the way healing magic heals him?”

“I-I don’t know.” She said slightly flustered. “I’ve never heard of a monster that could do that before. What can he change into?”

“His normal, most often used form is like that of a basic skeleton’s. I’ve only ever seen him shift into one other form and that one’s quadruped and more cat-like in appearance. I haven’t seen Papyrus change and I’m beginning to assume he can’t.”

“That’s odd, usually siblings share very similar magic abilities, but shape shifting is an odd magic so maybe it is different for those who possess it…” Jossey let her thoughts trailed off as she contemplated the new information.

“I wish there was someone I could ask about this. I’ve never had to deal with monsters like this. But,” she said trying to sound more confident, “I have treated plenty of normal cats and even a skeleton before!” 

“Really? A skeleton?” Grillby hadn’t known she’d treated a skeleton before. They were quite rare and were a lot more resilient to damage than most monsters so it was very unlikely that anyone got the chance to treat one.

“Yes, and oh, he was such an idiot! It was back when we all lived back in that small cave of ruins. The lunatic was experimenting on the actual barrier and almost fried himself. That thing must have shocked the wits right out of him because once he was able to walk I had to stop him from trying to do it again!”

Grillby couldn’t help but laugh along with her as she described the skeleton with a certain death wish. When they were first trapped underground, he couldn’t recall meeting such a peculiar monster, but those had been dark and confusing times.

“Did you get his name?” he asked curiously.

“Nope, between healing him, and trying to keep him from committing suicide, we never actually got the chance to talk. When I finally convinced the lunatic that the barrier would kill him, he just up and left. Didn’t even thank me for saving his life!”

“He certainly sounds like a strange fellow. Have you met any other skeletons besides that incident?”

“I wish. I haven’t met any other skeleton since before the time of the barrier, and even then they were a rare sight to see.” 

She sighed softly, “To be honest I thought he was the last one of his kind, but there obviously must be a few others if you really did find two skeletal children.” Suddenly she laughed, “Even after all this time, I doubt that guy managed to find someone who could put up with his insanity!” 

Grillby laughed as well but secretly, he considered the possibility. What if that stranger was indeed related to Sans and Papyrus? Did he know what happened to them if he was? Was he sitting in an empty house wondering where his children were, or was he himself the one who did theses awful things to them?

“Well, I have to get going, Grillby. I need to gather some things together for tonight and I need to check on Miss, Snowdrake. Poor dear has been complaining about headaches again. I’ll see you soon!” With that she hung up and Grillby was left holding the phone to his head, the sound of static filling his ears.

Grillby put the phone back with a sigh. It had been good to talk to Jossey. Her bright optimism and positivity could be felt even through the phone and had relieved him of his stress, if only for a couple of moments. Now his worries were returning full force and he didn’t even have anything to do to distract himself from these dreaded thoughts. 

The children were still asleep when he checked up on them and Grillby wondered how much sleep they had gotten during the storm. It hadn’t been much that was for sure, both of them were fast asleep.

Desperate for something to do, Grillby strode over to one of the many bookshelves lining the walls and pulled one out at random. It was an old book Quinn had found in the dumps and thought he would like. The cover was covered in water stains and only part of the title could be read. The rest of the book however, was in surprisingly good condition. The cover must have protected the inner pages from the worst of the water.

He wished he could go to the dump himself and see what he could find, but it was located in the middle of Waterfall. Attempting to go in there without serious protection would most likely kill him and even then, he would get some nasty water burns. It wasn’t worth the risk.

Grillby walked over to an armchair that was adjacent to the couch and all but collapsed into it with a huff. This was definitely one of the longest mornings he had ever had. He wanted nothing more than to sink into the soft cushions and forget all that had happened, but he knew he couldn’t do that. What if one of the children woke up and need something, or Sans’ conditions worsened in his sleep?

Grillby rubbed his temples and flipped open the book. It had been a long time since he had read this one and he only vaguely remembered what it was about. He was most certain it had something to do with a peculiar young man, a box, and time travel. Well, at least it will distract me from this hellish nightmare, he thought wearily. Silently, he began to read, never failing to look up at the children every couple of minutes to reassure himself that they were alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am definitely going to come back and edit all of this at some point but until then let me know what you think! This is my first fanfic so I know it isn't stellar or anything but I'm trying.


	9. Healing Touch

It had taken the monsters of Snowdin longer than Grillby expected to retire for the night. Apparently, the snow had been much deeper downtown than where Grillby’s was, and it had taken them hours to clear the streets. He felt bad for not assisting them, as his fire magic would have been quite useful for melting away the ice and snow, but he knew that it was out of the question. Going out even for a second would leave the children unsupervised, and Grillby didn’t want to risk something happening while he was away.

A couple of monsters had tried coming in for a warm drink, just as he predicted they would, but they were rebuked by the ‘closed’ sign still in place. He knew talk of it would spread. Everyone had expected him to open today and the small town was so deprived of news that it gossiped about the smallest of things. Not that it bothered him; Grillby didn’t particularly care what kind of rumors the town cooked up over his absence. As crazy and bizarre as they were sure to get, it would be simple enough to calm everyone down. Soon they’d start cooking rumors about the next oddity in their lives. 

Just sitting there doing nothing for the entire day was what started to get to him. Every day, from early morning to late at night, he always had something to do. From running his restaurant, tidying up his house, or even leaving his small world that was his bar and home to socialize, he always had something to occupy his mind. 

He eventually became too anxious to sit still. Unable to focus on his reading, he set down the book and started wiping down the already spotless counter tops. When that too failed to keep him busy, Grillby couldn’t help but pace between the bar and the kids, checking to see that they were alright before going back to mindlessly walking around the restaurant.

He had never been so relieved to see the light finally begin to fade. Most monsters had retired to their warm houses hours ago, but Grillby had wanted to wait to make sure he wouldn’t be seen walking home with Sans and Papyrus. 

The children had slept through the day, not even stirring at the sounds of his restless movements. Grillby had let them sleep, remembering Jossey’s advice about giving magic deprived monsters rest. He wasn’t sure just how drained they were, but both brothers must have been low on energy if they managed to sleep an entire day away.

Grillby was reluctant to disturb them when they looked so peaceful. When it was finally time to head home, instead of waking them he simply wrapped them in several blankets before carefully picking them up and carrying them out into the crisp air. 

Any warmth there had been outside was quickly fading along with the light and the cold was only emphasised by a brisk wind. The elemental pulled the blankets tightly around the children and coaxed his flames to burn brighter in an attempt to stave off the cold.

Papyrus shivered and cracked an eye open as a chilling wind blew into his face. Not knowing where he was startled him into full wakefulness and he squirmed a bit in Grillby’s grasped, whimpering in confusion.

“Shh,” Grillby cooed softly, “it’s alright, I’m just taking you to my house. You can go back to sleep if you want.”

The toddler stilled when he heard the elemental’s soft words but they couldn’t calm his racing soul. He nestled closer to Sans’ side in an attempt to hide from the chilly air, but refused to let his eyes close. The icy wind reminded Papyrus of that horrible, numbing darkness he had felt just last night. The feeling of his consciousness slipping away from him bit by bit was terrifying. The toddler didn’t think that Grillby would leave him and his brother to freeze to death but just feeling cold made him panic. Papyrus never wanted to feel numb like that again. 

The young skeleton was more worried about his brother than his own health though. As far as he could tell, Sans hadn’t woken up once the entire day and even with the chilling wind, Papyrus could feel the unnatural heat radiating from his brother’s bones. He was truly afraid for him. The only times Sans was this sick was when his magic reacted badly with a failed experiment. 

If he were being honest to himself being held by Grillby was also unnerving. Besides Sans, the only person who ever touched him was the scientist and those were definitely not good times to think of. Gaster never held him like this though. He always avoided contact unless it was part of an experiment or absolutely necessary. 

Come to think of it, Papyrus couldn’t remember if he was ever even held by the scientist. He could distantly remember Sans carrying him around when he was really little, but other than that he couldn’t remember anyone touching him back in the labs. The close proximity to someone besides his brother caused his soul to pulse with fear. He was a stranger no matter what his motives were. 

Papyrus peeked up at the monster’s face. Would he know if he checked his stats? The fire monster hadn’t said anything about it before. He already knew what they were but he need to feel Grillby’s kindness and sincerity before he completely panicked in his arms. 

Just like he had done before, Papyrus let his soul reach out towards the increasingly familiar feeling of warmth coming from the monster’s chest. Ever since he and Sans managed to get away from the scientist, Papyrus had noticed the slight warmth coming off of each monster they came across. It had started off as faint wisps but he could feel it a lot clearer now. He had first assumed that all monsters had it and he simply hadn’t noticed until now. It wasn’t like he got to see any people besides Sans and the scientist while held in captivity, but it was hard to believe that he hadn’t noticed the faint spark from his brother until recently. The toddler could only guess that whatever Gaster did to him in that final experiment must have caused this strange, new sense. The warm energy washed over him as he saw the monster’s stats once again. 

Lv: 47  
Atk: 510  
Def: 480  
Hp:425 

They were the same as before, but Papyrus didn’t care about those. The small skeleton ignored the levels and continued his gentle prodding until he felt the monster’s genuine concern wash over him. He stole another glance up at Grillby, searching for a reaction from the fire monster. When there wasn’t one, Papyrus relaxed and let himself be soothed by the steady thrum of the elemental's soul. 

It puzzled him to no end how such a kind monster could have so much LOVE. His mind wouldn’t let the questions drop. They circled around and around in his head like the snowflakes in the wind. 

He was shocked from his light trance when Grillby shifted him in his arms so he could reach for a door and Papyrus realized they were in front of what must be the fire monster’s home. It was a simple two story cabin almost identical to its neighbors. Ironically, what was most notable about the building was its lack of features. While it wasn’t uninviting, it lacked small details the other homes had that made them feel more…well, homey. The cheery, pulled back curtains, the small flower pots sitting on the windowsills, the strange but colorful lights hanging from the roof. Grillby’s house had none of these. 

The fire elemental pushed through the front door and stepped into his home. The interior of the house was very much like the outside, admittedly bland, yet comforting in its simplicity. It reminded the child of Grillby’s bar with its plain wood floors and warm toned walls. The room they entered was cozy with a small sofa and a worn armchair next to a table holding a lamp. It’s worn condition suggested this was the monster’s favorite place to sit and relax. There was also a small tv and more bookshelves lining the walls. A large fireplace took up space in the wall across from them where they entered. A hallway led off to the kitchen, which in turn branched off to the rest of the house. 

Grillby set Sans and Papyrus down on the couch before turning on the lamp. As he did this, Grillby noticed a folded note placed right next to it. He stared at the paper in confusion before remembering that Quinn had sent the dogs over with things for the kids. He picked up the note and attempted to read it. 

It was hard to make out, as none of the dogs had very legible handwriting, but it seemed that Fetch and Alex had brought over some toys and clothing that should fit the kids while BD set up bunk beds in the guest room. He briefly pondered where in the underground they had gotten ahold of bunk beds, but mostly Grillby worried about the state the room would be in. BD was one of the gentlest monsters in the royal guard, but he could be more than a little clumsy at times due to his size. Despite his worrying, he couldn’t help but grin slightly at the dog’s messy script and think about what sort of antics had transpired.

The dogs also apologized for ‘kind of not really’ breaking into his house and changing the room without his supervision and said that they would gladly come over and fix things if the boys didn’t like it or they were uncomfortable in any way. He felt relieved knowing they were ready and willing to help out for the children’s sake. At least, when it finally became apparent to everyone that he was unsuited to care for children, Sans and Papyrus had other possible places to go. The dogs could be a wild crowd but it was no secret Fetch and Alex were looking into having pups of their own. They would gladly look after the boys, at least for a little while. 

He quickly read the rest of the note before folding it back up and stowing it away in his pocket. Grillby glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and realized Jossey would be arriving any minute. 

He checked on the boys. Sans had hardly stirred during the quick walk home and it was beginning to worry him. Papyrus didn’t seem to be nearly as sick as his brother, and said child had shifted so he was sitting upright, with Sans’ head resting in his lap.

While Grillby had been reading the note, Papyrus had continued his ponderings over the fire monster’s level. Was having a high level normal? He hadn’t read enough souls to have a good base to compare to. It was an intimidating thought if it was. What kind of place did that make the Underground if killing was normal? And why did Grillby kill in the first place? Maybe there was another way you could get LOVE. Papyrus was terrified to ask, but the more he thought about it, the more questions he came up with. 

He fidgeted, struggling with the questions in his head before finally blurting out, “How did you get so much LOVE?” Papyrus instantly flinched back like he was expecting some sort of punishment. Asking questions was never welcome back in the dreadful place he and Sans had escaped from. Well, talking in general was bad but questioning things was especially discouraged. It always made the scientist mad and the scientist always gave repercussions when they disobeyed him.

Grillby felt his flames spark in surprise. He was more shocked than angered by the question and more than a little bit uncomfortable. He knew his stats, how high they were. His LOVE was something he never talked about. Most monsters knew he had a high LV, but he doubted they knew just how high it was.

Papyrus must have mistook his silence for anger because ducked his head lower. “I-I-I’m sorry!” He squeaked, “I di-didn’t k-know I could d-do it until i-i-it happened. I’m sorry!”

Grillby watched as Papyrus’s hunched shoulders began to shake. What? What’s wrong? He thought frantically. He hadn’t even said anything and the boy was falling apart. Was he really that terrified of him? Grillby silently scolded himself. He knows my stats, of course he’s scared of me. It’s a surprise he hasn’t tried to run away from me yet. God, he let me carry him, even knowing my level. He felt a horrible twisting in his soul. Had he been too terrified to object? And what is he sorry about? He thought over what Papyrus had said and it slowly dawned on him. ...Had he read my stats? It was the only answer he could think of as to how the child knew his LOVE, but how was that even possible? Only monsters born with the rare ability to soul read could easily see soul signatures. Without it, it normally took years of practice just to be able to sense a soul’s energy.

He didn’t feel nearly as violated as he should be. If anything, he only felt sad and regretful. His LOVE was not something he took lightly and his actions as to why he had so much of it were simply painful to think about. He had tried so hard not to think of the lives he took and all the needless havoc and pain he caused.

Grillby stared at the child at a loss for what to say. His thoughts stumbled over excuses and apologies of his own. Trying vocalize some of them, he realized he had momentarily stopped breathing. Grillby let out the breath he had been holding. “It’s alright, don’t be sorry.” He said softly. He reached out toward Papyrus, only to pull back. Instead he folded his hands in his lap and looked down at them. He wanted to comfort the child, not scare him more.

Papyrus didn’t say anything. Now that the question had burst forth he wished he could take it back. He didn’t need to know and he could tell the monster was upset by the question. Confusion, regret, and even panic pulsed from the elemental's soul. His soothing tone failed to hide his true tirade of emotion. 

Grillby sighed softly. It wasn’t often he told this story which was more than fine by him, but he couldn’t leave Papyrus without an explanation. “Do you know the story of how monsters were trapped down here?”

Papyrus nodded hesitantly, still silent. He had stopped himself from shaking at this point but his shoulders were still hunched forward, eyes downcast. His eye lights did glance up momentarily at the mention of the story. It was one of the few part of history the scientist made sure both he and Sans knew by heart. He said it was the story of why they were made in the first place. 

There was a war between humans and monsters and the humans trapped them under a mountain. It was supposed to be a simple part of their ‘training’, but Papyrus liked listening to the story. The scientist stopped telling it to them when they got older and things got worse, but sometimes on a good day he would widdel Sans into telling it to him again. By now he knew it word for word but Papyrus still liked listening to the soft mumble of Sans’ voice as he drifted off to sleep. It reminded him they were both safe together in their room and not on the cold metal tables.

Papyrus associated the story with good things, safety, comfort. He hardly thought much about the grim meaning of the words anymore. He didn’t get why the monster was bringing it up.

Grillby continued. “A long time ago, I was in the war against the humans. I did a lot of things I’m not... proud of. I made a lot of mistakes in the middle of battle…” As he spoke his voice grew fainter like a dying fire. “This,” he gestured to where his soul resided in his chest and its LOVE, “comes from killing without hesitation. From burning everything in your path.” As he spoke, Grillby dropped his gaze to his lap. He couldn’t even bring himself to look the child in the eyes, sure he would find nothing but fear in them. 

The young skeleton watched the elemental from the corner of his eye socket and was silent for another moment. “But you did it to protect other monsters.” 

“...Yes…” he admitted. At first. Grillby was too ashamed to say the last part out loud. 

“Then it’s ok.” The toddler said with what might have sounded like a surprising amount conviction. Protecting monsters was good. It was what he had been born to do. He couldn’t hold Grillby against something he did to help people, what he himself was meant to do. 

Both of them fell silent after that. Grillby not knowing what to say to that, Papyrus still not daring to even move an inch in case it upset the elemental somehow. He didn’t want to upset him again. The young skeleton wasn’t being punished (much to his confusement and relief) but Papyrus couldn’t help but still feel on edge. 

They both jumped when the silence was interrupted by a knocking at the door. Grillby slowly got up and answered the door. Jossey was standing outside carrying a small bag filled with different sorts of medicine. Her light brown and white dappled fur was fluffed up against the cold, but she had a soft smile on her face.

“Hey.” Peering around Grillby she spotted Sans and Papyrus. Seeing that one of them was awake, she grinned more widely. “Hi there Sweetheart! Aren’t you a cutie?” 

Papyrus shrank back and didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what some of the words the new monster said meant so he kept a wary eye on her. Papyrus itched to check her soul stats but she was still too far away. He didn’t even know if he should. Grillby didn’t seem too happy when he learned he knew his exact LOVE. 

Grillby’s flames flickered a bit with unease. “Careful.” He murmured. “They... don’t trust strangers.”

She gave him a look bordering on patronizing. “Well duh silly! I wouldn’t either if I were them. That's why we have to show them we don’t mean any harm.” She said this quietly too, still smiling at Papyrus over her friend’s shoulder. Stepping around the fire elemental she strode toward the couch. “How are you Hon?”

Papyrus shrank in on himself even further as she approached and it took him a moment to realize she was talking to him. What did she want, a status update? No that didn’t seem right. She didn’t ask for specifics or details like the scientist had… “...m’alright...” He mumbled at last. He would give her a thorough description of his condition if she wasn’t pleased and asked again, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Grillby closed the door behind her and walked closer to the couch, still staying at a distance as to not crowd the children. “Papyrus, this is Jossey, I promise she’s not going to hurt you or your brother. She just wants to make sure the two of you aren’t hurt. Jossey, this is Papyrus and his brother… Sans.” He couldn’t completely hide the worry that crept into his voice at the mention of the other skeleton. He had hoped that Sans would have woken up by the time Jossey arrived.

If Jossey heard or shared his concern, she did a remarkable job of hiding it. She also found Papyrus’ response to be an acceptable answer since she didn’t question further despite it not telling her anything. Jossey smiled warmly down at the child, “Papyrus, cute name Hon.” She knelt down in front of him on the floor so that she was level with him and stuck out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you Pappy.”

Papyrus looked at the hand almost as if he expected it to strike him before slowly shifting his gaze to meet Jossey’s, again uncertain what she expected of him.

She laughed softly, “Pap, it’s only a handshake. It’s just how monsters greet each other.

After another moment he reached out and took her three middle fingers gingerly in his small hand. “...It’s Papyrus.” He said with a hint of a frown on his face. “Only Sans can call me that.” 

“Right sorry Honey.” She said doing her best to keep a straight face. Even Grillby’s flames flickered a bit with amusement at the child's serious expression. 

Letting go of his hand, she let her eyes fall to Sans. “How’s your brother doing?”

Papyrus looked down at his brother, curling around him in a protective manner. In a quiet voice he answered, “...He’s been sleeping all day.”

She nodded. “He must be very tired then. How about we let him sleep for a little longer?” Jossey tugged gently at the sleeve of his oversized, borrowed shirt. “Mind if I take a look at you first Sweetheart? I’m not going to hurt you promise, I just need to check if you’re hurt anywhere.”

“Um…” He pulled his arm back and clutched it with his other. He didn’t hurt more than he usually did, he felt better than normal in fact because there were no serious, fresh cracks from experiments. And why did she need to see them? None of his injuries were life threatening. Shouldn’t they be able to sense if they were? The scientist had been able to tell how bad he was hurt and only ever treated his injuries for a few days after a procedure before leaving them to heal up on their own. 

But Sans was tired. As much as he wanted to talk to him and seek comfort in his safe and familiar embrace, he didn’t want the strange monsters to wake him up… and he didn’t have much of a choice did he? There were two of them and they were a lot stronger than he was. The scientist had been strong too but he didn’t act like Grillby and Jossey. They were different. They were asking him. They made it sound like he really did have a say...

Papyrus shut his eyes tightly. It was all just so new and scary for him. He shouldn’t look but Papyrus really needed to know the new monster’s motives. Without looking up, he reached out to the new monster’s soul in front of him. It wasn’t as bright and intense as Grillby’s or even some of the others he felt in fleet passings, but it was big. It wrapped itself around him like a hug, whispering echoes of kindness and safety. It... was harder to take in all at once but it was nice.

Papyrus’ shoulders slowly relaxed. “You really promise?” He asked eventually. 

“I really do, cross my heart.” She vowed, moving her hand across her chest where her soul resided. “We’re not going to hurt you.” 

Her soul pulsed with conviction, backing up her statement. Papyrus glanced back up at Jossey, nodding ever so slightly in response. Gently, he lifted his brother’s head off his lap before scooting forward to sit at the edge of the couch.

She smiled reassuringly, “Alright Hon, arms up.”

He was still a bit reluctant but he complied without a fuss. Once she lifted the shirt over his head, Papyrus brought his arms closer to himself. Not exactly wrapping them around his ribcage, but it was still to see that he was uncomfortable. 

Underneath the shirt, Papyrus’ bones were filthy, bits of dirt seemed to have managed to get into every crack and joint. And the cracks… There were wounds, fresh and old running along the child’s rib cage and arms in straight, precise lines, like they were made with strategic purpose. 

Her expression stayed calm and gentle, but Grillby knew her well enough to notice the subtle widening of her eyes and how her smile seemed to freeze on her face as she viewed the damage. 

“I- Sorry Grills I know water isn’t your thing but could you please-?”

Jossey didn’t even have to finish her sentence before he was nodding his head and backing out of the door that led to the kitchen. Grillby truly admired her for being able to keep her emotions in check so well. It was a skill he found himself lacking in, especially under the stress of today that weighed heavily on his shoulders. He hardly kept it together seeing Sans… The escape to the kitchen was a greatfully accepted one.

Jossey watched him go. Only those that knew her would see the shadow of worry for her fiery friend in her eyes. She turned her attention back on Papyrus and smiled.

“Alright Sweetheart, I’m going to place my hands right here,” she let her hands hover a few inches away from Papyrus’ ribs, “and I’m going to heal you up a bit. You’ll be feeling better in a jiffy!” She wouldn’t heal the the deeper cuts until they were cleaned, but until then she could ease the pain and fix up some of the smaller scrapes.

When Papyrus nodded hesitantly she gently laid her hands on either side of his rib cage, running feather light fingers over the ugly ridges and cracks. The toddler couldn’t help but flinch as she grazed fresher wounds but otherwise he remained remarkably still. He began to feel a cool, tingling sensation in his ribs wherever the monster touched. It wasn’t painful or bad, it was just… weird. 

A few moments passed without word between them. Jossey kept stealing concerned glances up at the toddler's face until she finally broke the silence. “You know you can ask me questions if you want Papyrus.” The poor thing looked like he could use a good distraction. 

He met her eyes shyly. “Really?”

“Sure Hon, I don’t bite.” Jossey said with a small laugh. 

The toddler flinched back slightly. He hadn’t thought she would bite in the first place. ...Should he have? “Ok… What should I ask?” He didn’t want to upset her like he had the fire monster.

She couldn’t help but laugh again when Papyrus asked that. “If I told you then what’s the point of having you ask the question? Ask me whatever you want Sweetheart.”

“Ok.” He was quiet for a moment. If she was fine with him asking anything, Papyrus wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste. It was a rare treat to be given the chance to ask anything he desired. There were so many things he wanted to learn too, but Papyrus tried to prioritize his questions. 

“Why do you keep calling me strange names?” It was really starting to confuse him. The lady knew his name was Papyrus but she continued to call him weird stuff. 

She laughed a bit. “What, you mean Hon and Sweetheart?” At Papyrus’ nod she answered, “They’re just names of endearment, little nicknames if you will. Like how your brother calls you Pap.” 

He frowned, not fully satisfied with the answer. If he could ask anything, then he wanted a real answer to his question. “But what do they mean?” At least he knew where Pap came from. Honey and Sweetheart had nothing to do with his name at all. 

She gently moved on from his rib cage to his shoulders and arms, looking up at his face, eyes shining with more of their natural cheer. “Ahh, you’re a logical little bugger aren’t ya? Ha, alright then. To start off honey is gooey, golden, sweet stuff you can eat. I love putting it in warm milk. And Hon is just an abbreviation of honey. You understand so far Sweetheart?”

Papyrus nodded. He didn’t, not really. He had no idea why he would be called a sweet food, (what was sweet?) and now he wanted to know what milk was. Did it really go well with honey? Papyrus didn’t want to interrupt her in explaining weird nicknames to him though so he withheld his new questions for another time.

Jossey nodded, taking his word for it and continued. “Alright, well Sweetheart isn’t a real thing. It’s just a name you call someone who has a sweet soul. Which means you’re really nice,” she reached with one hand and gently tickled his partially healed ribs,“or adorable.” 

The small skeleton giggled when he was tickled and it was only then that he realized the pain was almost entirely gone. He hadn’t even realized how much he hurt until he didn’t anymore. A small ghost of a smile appeared on Papyrus’ face. Almost all the tension in his firm was gone now and he was beginning to feel sleepy again. 

The nice feeling made him relaxed enough to ask another question. “What does ‘adorable’ mean?”

Jossey smiled again.“It’s another word for cute, precious.”

“Oh.” He didn’t know what to make if that. Papyrus had never been described with words like those before. Not by the scientist, not by anyone. 

Papyrus wandered off in his thoughts and fell silent as Jossey finished healing his forearms. This time she didn’t try to break the silence; having thoughts of her own to occupy herself with.

Seeing a sweet child like Papyrus hurt so severely was revolting. Thinking about it made the hairs on her arms bristle and a cold chill to crawl down her spine. She tried not to think about it, not now anyway. She was sure she would be up all night haunted by images of cracks on thin, brittle bones.

And Grillby… She was beginning to worry about him. The guy had a hard time when being faced with injustice and cruelty. 

She was about to pull away and go see what was taking him so long, but paused when her fingers brushed against something on Papyrus’ right wrist. At first she thought it was another scar but the ridges felt different, more jagged.

Looking down and turning the wrist over, she expected it be a particularly torn up wound in the bone, a splintered cut, only to discover that it was something different but just as equally, if not more horrible to look at. She stared blankly at the serial number drilled into the bone in detached surprise. “Where did you get this?”

Papyrus’ eyes sockets widened, snapping back to being fully awake the moment she turned over his arm. He whimpered at the question and tugged at the arm on her grasp like he wanted to pull it away but was to afraid to actually do so. 

Jossey let go of his wrist and he instantly pulled it close to himself, arms crossed over his rib cage like they could hide all the injuries marking his bones and scrambling back to lean against his brother again. “I-I-” His breath was speeding up and he couldn’t speak past his stutter. 

She saw his bar code. Now the nice rabbit lady knew he wasn’t a real monster. What would she do now? The only sensible thing for her to do would be to send him and his brother back to the horrible place they escaped. The thought of going back made his bones rattle with how much he was shaking. 

The rabbit monster made quite cooing sounds. “Shh, I’m sorry Hon, calm down. It’s alright, you're not in trouble. Did I hurt you?”

He shook his head but couldn’t stop the small tremors from racking his thin frame. “I-I d-d-don’t wa-ant to go b-back.” He whimpered.

“Back to where?” 

“B-b-bad place.” 

“What bad place Hon?” She asked gently. “Do you know where it is?”

Papyrus shook his head quickly. Their escape had been one long blur of thrumming magic and flashing scenery. And maybe it was better if the monsters didn’t know where they were from. It would take them longer to send them back. “D-don’t want to go back.” He whispered again. 

He wanted Sans to wake up. He wanted his big brother to take him away from the strange monsters and take care of him back at their shack in the woods. He wanted to go back in time and run away from the fiery monster the moment he and Sans were spotted. Being hungry was okay, the cold was okay as long as they never had to go back to those labs. 

He barely noticed Jossey lean in until she had her arms wrapped around him. Papyrus jolted in panic “Shh shh listen Papyrus you won’t have to go back. Ever. Me and Grills won’t let that happen okay? You’re safe here. You and Sans don’t ever have to go back to that bad place again.” 

Papyrus didn’t dare to move. He didn’t even dare to breath. Her hold was firm but loose, making it feel like he could get away if he wanted. Josssey’s arms were warm too; not as warm as the elemental’s but still nice. He found himself leaning into it. 

“C-can I still ask things?”

“Of course you always can.”

“...What is this?”

Her arms tightened ever so slightly. “It’s called a hug Sweetie.”

A hug. Finally a real word he could put to the closeness he and Sans shared in their small, cold room when they were left by themselves.

“W-why are y-you giving me one?” 

“Well did you ever do this with your brother?” At his slight nod she asked, “Why did you do it with him?”

“Because w-we were sc-ared.”

Jossey took in a shaken breath. “Well,”she began, “there are many reasons why you may hug someone Honey. I’m hugging you because I want you to know everything is going to be okay.” 

Things were going to be ok. She thought firmly. Her soul pulsed kindness and conviction.


	10. Things Are Fine (Even if There Are a Hundred Reasons Why They Aren't)

Back in the kitchen, Grillby leaned his hands back on the edge of his countertop and had taken a few moments in the to just breath. He forced his flames not to spark or ignite something and simply taking comfort in the familiarity of his surroundings. A while had passed with him like that. He could no longer hear Jossey and Papyrus talking in the other room but they had been before. It was a marvel to him how his friend was able to talk to Papyrus so calmly and get him to warm up to her. She had even got him to laugh! Grillby himself had yet to receive anything other than serious or timid responses from Papyrus at best. 

It was only now that their conversation had grown quiet did he realize he had been standing there for quite some time and his fire was as relaxed and calm in appearance as it was going to get tonight.

Foregoing the protective rubber gloves he kept by the sink for speed, he hastily grabbed a bowl from one of the cabinets and filled it with water. A gentle pulse of fire from his hands heated it to a pleasantly warm temperature, or so he hoped. Being made of flames made it difficult to judge temperatures at times.

Walking slowly so he didn’t spill the stuff all over him, Grillby grabbed a few rags and edged out of the kitchen.

And was surprised to find Jossey and Papyrus clinging to each other in a hug.

Jossey caught sight of Grillby over the child's shoulder and smiled wearily. “Alright Hon,” she said pulling away, “we’re going to clean you up then you can get some rest. Does that sound alright with you?”

Papyrus clung to her a moment longer when pulled away but eventually let go, curling in on himself and nodding mutely. 

Grillby closed the rest of the difference and that's when Jossey frowned, finally noticing his bare hands. “Why aren’t you wearing gloves?” She scolded as she carefully took the bowl from him and set it down on the ground next to her. “I don’t want to have to treat water burns while I’m here too.” 

Papyrus started and looked at him. “Water hurts you?” 

“Yes. Water and flames do not coexist well together and since I am made of fire, it can cause damage.”

“And yet the hot head still doesn't use basic precautions.” Jossey teased.

He had nothing to use to defend himself against that unfortunately.

Papyrus had gotten a wide eyed look and was staring at the water bowl like he had never set eyes on it before so Grillby added. “It takes more than a splash to hurt." Not necessarily true but it was hardly something that was worth worrying over, especially by a child no less. 

“It won’t hurt you Hon Grillby’s just a special case.” Jossey added.

Once Papyrus was cleaned up Jossey quickly healed up the worse of his injuries and finally turned her attention to the other little skeleton. Sans hadn’t stirred at all since she had been here.

She placed a hand on the top of his skull, the other lightly touched the metal around his neck. “Is there any way we can get this off him?” She asked.

“I examined it earlier. It’s magically reinforced and locked with a magic signature.” He’d had plenty of time to examine it during his restless wait at his bar.

“So much security for a small child? You didn’t have one of these too did you Papyrus?”

Papyrus shook his head. He hadn’t when the flame monster found him at least.

“Have you tried getting it off with something?”

“I didn’t want to try since it was magically strengthened. Will it get in the way of you healing him?”

“Not unless there’s something under it that I can’t see. But it still can’t stay on him forever.”

“I will talk to Quinn tomorrow about .” He promised. It was really all they could do about it at the moment. 

__________  
Sans had been slipping in and out of consciousness for some time now, not really remembering what he saw or heard in between the numbness that clouded his mind. What fully roused Sans was the shift of icy metal on his neck. The next thing he noticed was that he was cold, like all the magic had been drained from his bones which was very likely what happened. Just the thought of moving made his limbs ache in protest. There was a light touch on his skull accompanied by an intense, hammering ache and for a disoriented moment he thought the two were related. 

Flinching away from the pressure Sans opened his eyes only to snap them close them again at the sudden presence of light. He could distantly make out voices now but it was like his head was underwater. Their words flowed in and out of focus in a dizzying chorus. 

Sans felt his soul start to pound in his rib cage. Voices. People. That's right they had been captured. Danger. They were in danger. He was panicking. He shouldn’t be panicking. He couldn’t help it. 

A low whine scrapped its way out of his throat causing a fit of coughing. It hurt to cough. It hurt to move at all. The pressure he now identified as a hand continued to touch his skull in odd, soft strokes, accompanied by more gentle spoken words he couldn't understand. 

Cracking his eyes open slower this time he tried to focus his blurry vision on the person leaning over him. It was still bright enough to burn his eyes but the light wasn’t coming from some overhanging lamp like he expected and he wasn’t strapped down to a metal table. The light was warmer and soft and it took Sans a lot longer than it should have for him to realize it was because it was coming from the monster. Actually there were two monsters. The light was coming from the fire monster, the one who caught them… how exactly? Why was it so hard for him to remember? His thoughts and fragments of memory kept slipping away from him whenever he tried to focus.

He didn’t recognize the other monster at all but Sans didn’t know if that was because he had never seen her before, or he simply couldn’t remember. She was the one leaning closest over him.

As confused and spaced out as he was, one thought cut through the rest like a blade. He needed to know if his brother was alright. “P-pap…” Was it his distorted hearing, or did his voice sound wrong? His voice was hoarse, but also garbled. It took him a moment to figure out it was because he was growing fangs. His bones ached too and Sans realized it was from more than being cold and magically drained. They were changing, responding to his terror.

No! He thought as a new wave of panic gripped his soul. He jerked, trying to stop the shift of his form. The sudden rush of magic adrenaline and fear gave him the energy to thrash away from the touch. 

His mind was too frazzled to retreat to The Quiet Place and his panic wasn’t making things any easier. He was going to shift. He was going to shift and hurt someone and then they would hurt him and Papyrus as punishment and it would be his fault. They would be sent back to the bad place and the scientist who would punish them both for running away.

His panicked thoughts were severed like a cut wire by a tiny pair of arms thrown around his midsection and a face bury into his chest.

His arms automatically went up to wrap around his brother but they lacked the strength to hug him as tightly as he wanted to. 

As he slowly calmed down he realized the strange stranger was still talking to him. “...alright. You're safe here.”

Safe? The word didn’t register right in his head. Safe was grabbing his brother and running far far away from monsters who could hurt them. They were in just as much danger with them as they were in the labs. 

The closest one, the rabbit monster, laid a hand on Papyrus’ back. “Papyrus honey, we need to check on your brother now. Do you want to go get some sleep now or stay here with your brother?”

Papyrus’ grip on him tightened. “Here.” Was his muffled reply. Slowly the young skeleton moved to climb off him. He knew that Pap didn’t have a choice in moving but he tightened his grip on Papyrus all the same when he did, giving a small whimper. Even trying, his grip was weak and his brother had no trouble slipping out of it to sit in the space between his head and the edge of the soft thing. Once he settled he gripped San’s hand tightly and he was grateful for the small comfort at least.

“There now Sweetheart do you think you can change back?”

He blinked. Was she talking to him? They say she was looking down at him implied she was but he had never heard a name like that much less been referred to as it. And what was she t- oh he was still half changed. Still Sans tried, he really did, but it was still all he could do not to shift the other way completely.

“Sans?” 

“I-I” He shook his head no and cowered down, not daring to look at her face.

“It’s alright Hon that's perfectly fine. I’m going to fix you up now. Talk to me if you have any questions Sweetie.”

Her reaction was different from what he had anticipated. He had expected a hit or some other form of punishment. The lack of one was unnerving. Maybe she was being careful as not to dust him. Or she might be saving the punishment for Papyrus later. The thought made him feel sick, or maybe he was just noticing the actual sickness in his bones.

Sans was too weak to protest when she gently untangled his limbs from the blankets and lifted his shirt to expose his rib cage. Sans couldn’t stop his bones from rattling as the cool air hit him despite his best attempts to remain still. It’s what they wanted right?

He closed his eyes, it was easier than having them open. Sans curled his fingers weakly around Papyrus’ to distract himself. He didn’t want to focus on what she was doing above him too much. He felt soft hands skim his ribs and a warm, wet cloth wipe down his bones but was detached from it all. Sans felt numb, even before the green sparks touched his bones. 

Likewise to their actions, he tried not to focus too much on what they were saying. Despite this Sans still caught a few words from the rabbit monster. He thought she asked if he had eaten anything. Sans didn’t know if she was talking to him or not but after a moment the elemental answered anyway. The fire monster had a much softer voice and he couldn’t make out his response. Not that it mattered. He hadn’t since before the bad snow fall but the thought of consuming anything made his nonexistent insides twist. It was almost a comical contrast to how hungry he had been before. Sans might have actually laughed at it if he’d had the strength to. 

Before he knew it the rabbit monster was pulling down his shirt and re wrapping him in blankets

“There we go Honey all done. Did that hurt anywhere?”

He gave the barest shake of his head. He couldn’t feel anything. 

“I know you're ready to go get some z’s but I think you should try eating something before you go back to bed.”

“I can make him something.” The elemental turned to Papyrus. “Are you hungry too?”

The child nodded, perking slightly at the possibility of more food. Something the both of them had learned while on their own had been to never turn away food.

“Do you need any help?”

The elemental seemed to think for a moment before he nodded and motioned for her to follow. 

Soon after they left Sans tugged on Papyrus’ hand. “Help me sit up Pap.” He whispered. His voice was hoarse not to mention his half shifted form made it difficult to speak.

Instantly Papyrus was there gently wedging his little hands under his shoulders and pushing him up so he could lean against the back of the soft thing they were both sitting on. 

Sans slowly felt himself relaxing now that he could see him. Papyrus looked no worse for wear. If anything, he looked better. He didn’t hold himself gingerly like his bones were bothering him and his dirty, half snow soaked clothes were replaced with dry ones, albeit the new shirt he wore was way too big for him. Both of them were changed in fact, a detail Sans had only just noticed now that he wasn’t blinded by panic. They smelled like the kind of dust things gathered when they weren’t cleaned regularly and the faintest traces of smoke. 

A quiet moment passed before Papyrus spoke up. “You changed back.”

“Huh?” Sans looked down to his limp hand laying on his lap. The tips were their normal shape, not even slightly pointed or sharp. He hadn’t even felt it happen. 

He nodded against Papyrus’ shoulder in acknowledgment but didn't say anything. Being as tired as he was Sans was content to sleep now while he could but Papyrus spoke up again even though you could hear the sleep on his own voice. 

“They said they want to help us.” 

“...Who?”

“Grillby and Jossey.” He mumbled sleepily into his skull. “I like Jossey. She’s the kind rabbit lady who healed us. I like her because she explained to me the use of nicknames, but they’re both nice.”

“Is… is that why she called me strange things?”

“Yeah she does that with me too.”

He didn’t think he liked it. He had a name and it was Sans. He shouldn’t be called anything else if he already had a name. Pap was different. It was similar enough to his actual name to prove he knew what it was. Sweetheart and Hon and whatever else she called them had nothing to do with their names. It reminded him of the codes they had to be called until they had come up with names for each other. He wasn’t S-1 or anything else the rabbit monster may call him; he was Sans. He decided he definitely didn’t like it.

Papyrus’ soft chatter pulled him from his thoughts. “They’re a little scary but they seem nice. They say we’re safe from the bad place and that we won’t ever have to go back there ever again.”

Sans didn’t say anything right away. He was quiet for so long Papyrus thought he might have had fallen asleep. Finally he spoke. “You believe ‘em Pap?” 

He nodded. “They promised.” 

“Did they mean it?”

“It felt like they did. Their souls were big and warm and nice. I think… whatever they’ll do they do it to help us.”

Sans didn’t say anything to that. He didn’t really understand what his brother felt when he talked about the monster’s souls like they were things you could touch and know their deepest secrets.

The exhaustion must finally be getting up him because Papyrus didn’t say anything either, or if he did it was moments later. By then Sans was already passed out, head resting against his brother’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well look who finally wakes up. Poor Sans. 
> 
> Also, the reason why this chapter's a bit shorter than my more recent ones is because I split what I had in half again. Good news though, the next chapter is almost already done so be ready to see that soon :)
> 
> I was a little reluctant to split it in the first place because almost all of the exciting stuff happens in the second part and without it this is just a meh chapter. Actual plot will happen soon peeps I promise I just hate taking forever to write these.
> 
> Ah and one more thing! I'm messing around with the format I write these in. Once I find one I like I'll go back and change all the other chapters to match up.


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